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2017: A New Ranking and Looking Forward with Dean Lindstrom

School of Education Ranks 36th in the Nation: U.S. News & World Report has released its ranking for 2018, and the School of Education has jumped 15 places to a new ranking of 36 out of 265 education schools in the nation. This is the School’s highest ranking to date, and is cause for celebration for our entire community-students, alumni, faculty, staff and supporters.

School of Education Warmly Welcomes Dean Lauren Lindstrom: The School of Education celebrated the arrival of Dean Lauren Lindstrom with a gathering of supporters, including Interim Dean Paul Hastings and Founding Dean Harold Levine. “When the School of Education began the search for our new Dean,” Hastings said in his remarks, “we were looking for a true educational leader, someone with demonstrated excellence in research, teaching and administration. We wanted to find a leader who would understand the breadth and diversity of the field of teaching across all ages and across communities, someone who would be ready to work with us on making a high-quality education accessible for all. Dr. Lindstrom is all that and more.” Hastings also thanked Founding Dean Levine for being in attendance as the torch was passed to the next leader of the School of Education.

Sullivan will Direct Teacher Education: Lisa Sullivan, PhD, has been named Associate Director of Teacher Education. Sullivan earned her PhD in learning and mind science at the School of Education. She also holds a teaching credential and taught in elementary schools for eight years. She has experience in special education, and conducted program evaluation as a REEd staff member. In her new role, she will provide day-to-day program management support students and work with faculty on program development.

Darnel Degand Joins Faculty: Darnel Degand, EdD will join the School of Education faculty this summer as an Assistant Professor in digital technology and educational change. 

Solari Evaluates Reading Standards in Honduras: Professor Emily Solari is evaluating national reading standards for first through sixth grade students in Honduras as USAID consultant.  Furthermore, Solari has been named a 2016-17 Chancellor’s Fellow at UC Davis, a title she will hold for five years.  The Chancellor’s Fellow designation is one of the most prestigious faculty honors awarded at UC Davis.  It recognizes rising stars for their teaching and campus citizenship and acknowledges that their scholarly work already puts them at the top of their fields.

Cooper to Lead EdSource: After two years serving on the Board of Directors of statewide nonprofit EdSource, Susanna Cooper, Managing Director of Wheelhouse, has been elected President. EdSource engages Californians on key education challenges by providing timely, useful and accurate information to key education stakeholders and the larger public through publications such as EdSource Today.

Niemeier Elected to National Academy of Engineering: Professor Deb Niemeier, who holds a joint appointment in the School of Education and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been elected to the prestigious National Academy of Engineering, which is among the highest honors in the profession. 

Wheelhouse Receives Multiple Grants: The Center for Community College Leadership and Research has received two recent grants to support its leadership institutes and research. The James Irvine Foundation has provided $200,000 to support a statewide survey and case study development, as well as the coaching component of this year’s Institute on Leadership. And the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr.  Fund has provided $100,000 to support a case study of the accreditation crisis at San Francisco City College, to be produced in partnership with the Harvard Graduate School of Education.In addition, the College Futures Foundation has provided a $170,000 grant to support two new research briefs by Professors Michal Kurlaender and Paco Martorell and Postdoctoral Scholar Elizabeth Friedmann, as well as a summerresearch convening bringing together scholars from UC Davis, UCLA, UC Irvine, Stanford and USC to map future research and publications under the Wheelhouse umbrella.

REEd Receives $3.2 Million IES Grant: REEd senior leaders Susan O’Hara, Joanne Bookmyer and Renee Newton have been awarded a five-year, $3.2 million grant from the Institute of Education Sciences. As principal investigator, Susan O’Hara will lead a team of researchers, including AIR staff, to test the efficacy of a REEd-developed professional growth model designed to improve academic language and literacy outcomes for English learners in upper elementary classrooms. REEd will test the efficacy of the model through a randomized controlled trial conducted in 80 elementary schools in Southern California. Earlier this year, REED received an award from the Office of English Language Acquisition to develop and test a similar professional growth model to meet the needs of the state’s youngest English learners in grades TK-2. With the current funding from IES, the REEd team will take the results of their previous research and modeling and improve outcomes for English learners from transitional kindergarten through 12th grade. 

Professor Ballard to Lead Major Collaborative Project: Professor Heidi Ballard and the Center for Community and Citizen Science, in partnership with the Natural History Museum, London, have secured a $1.2 million four-year award through a joint grant from the National Science Foundation, the Economic and Social Research Council, and the Welcome Trust. The project, titled “How natural history museums can design citizen science research projects to maximize the learning outcomes for young people,” will be led by Ballard in the U.S. and Lucy Robinson at the Natural History Museum, London in the United Kingdom. Research will be conducted by Ballard’s team at UC Davis, Open University and Oxford University in the United Kingdom, and citizen science practitioners, educators and environmental scientists at the Natural History Museum, London, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

Professor Abedi to Co-lead Center: Professor Jamal Abedi is one of six co-principle investigators establishing a virtual Science-based Innovation in Learning Center (SILC) through a UC Office of the President Multi-Year Award. The center will address issues associated with education and health disparities with a particular emphasis on underrepresented populations, with an ultimate goal of providing all children with the best educational and health outcomes. An initial focus will be on services, advocacy, training and research that will lead to early identification and intervention of children at risk for learning challenges in English.

Words Take Wing Takes Center Stage: The School of Education’s acclaimed Words Take Wing program will join the Mondavi Center’s school matinee series in 2018. Words Take Wing has served more than 14,000 schoolchildren, educators and community members since it was founded by Joanne Banducci in 2005. The program has been presented at the Mondavi Center for many years, but never before as part of the matinee series.  Words Take Wing is well-aligned with California Common Core standards, making it a perfect fit with the matinee series, which offers local schools an opportunity to take field trips that promote teaching Common Core through arts and culture. Words Take Wing will continue its mission of bringing a notable author or illustrator of diverse children’s literature to share their personal journey and creative process. 

Professor Cassandra Hart’s Research Reveals Educational Reality Facing African-American Students: Per finding in the research, having even one African-American teacher may have long-term benefits for African-American students…

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