Dean’s Message Fall 2014

I had the opportunity recently to make a presentation about the School of Education to my colleagues on the Council of Deans and Vice Chancellors, the senior leadership group for UC Davis. While I reported on our various academic programs and other initiatives—particularly our strong commitment to the worlds of policy and practice—and talked about our extraordinary growth, I put a particular focus on what distinguishes us. I wanted them to understand that we set a course 12 years ago when we became a school that we have made a reality and that continues to define our work for the public good. 

The distinction stems from our vision of a society that has eliminated the pernicious inequities in the schooling and learning opportunities for diverse learners; we believe deeply that it is through the power of knowledge, the promise of education, and an unflagging dedication to apply that knowledge on behalf of all learners, that will finally realize this vision. 

From the beginning we have committed ourselves to conducting relevant research with high impact. There are as many examples of relevance and impact as there are faculty and professional staff in the School. They work on creating fair tests for English learners and students with disabilities, improving reading comprehension for struggling readers, developing new approaches to help science teachers implement the state’s new Next Generation Science Standards, using solid evidence to dissect the claims made about the educational value of online learning, investigating students’ educational pathways and their access to, and persistence in, postsecondary schooling, developing learning activities that bridge the classroom experiences of students with their afterschool and summer programs, and… the list goes on. 

At the same time we believe in work that is distinguished nationally because of the demonstrated impacts it makes locally and regionally. One of the most exciting examples can be found in our creation of a unique charter school in one of the most under-served communities in our region. Discovering educationally sound methods that keep students engaged in their learning is the single most important ingredient in school success; and we believe our work in this regard will contribute in significant ways to the national dialogue about the purposes and outcomes of schooling. 

And there are so many other examples. Our faculty work with game designers to develop a video game that puts youth personal health and well-being at the center of a virtual universe; they study youth engagement in what has become known as the “maker’s movement;” they study how learning is advanced through the public’s participation in scientific data collection, sometimes on a national or even international level; and they do so much more…

Our faculty are distinguished scholars who share two other significant attributes: they live with one foot in the academy where they write and teach and pursue the work of scholars, but always they place the other foot in the real world of schools and students where their findings will make a difference for learners; and they collaborate with researchers across the campus, state and nation, and thereby derive the best that current thinking from a large variety of disciplines can provide to our understanding of educational processes and outcomes. 

Finally, we have worked diligently over the last decade to create both the idea and the reality that we are “One School,” distinguished by the universal commitment of our faculty, staff, and students to our single vision and the work necessary to achieve it.