Lecturer awarded Hilda Taba Award for significant contribution to social studies in California1/13/2020
The Hilda Taba award is yet another acknowledgement of Baron's productive and illustrious career. After attending UCLA and the University of Nairobi in Kenya and receiving his B.A. from UCI, Baron began his educational career working in low-SES schools at both the elementary and secondary level as a member of the National Teacher Corps program. He went on to teach at the elementary, middle and high school level before serving as a school principal at both the elementary and middle school level.
As a principal, Baron led South Lake Middle School in the Irvine Unified School District to No. 1 in the OC Register's ranking of all middle schools in Orange County. South Lake was the only school to be ranked in the top three for the first four years the paper compiled such rankings, based on a review of state-mandated educational data. "Bruce is so deserving of this award," said Jerome Judd, UCI Single Subject Supervisor for English. "He has had such a positive influence on so many students and teachers at the elementary, secondary, and university levels and such an impact on our educational community." In the 1980s-90s, Baron was actively engaged in multicultural education and acted as a consultant to address and ameliorate inter-ethnic tensions that existed at secondary schools throughout Southern California. His work was recognized by the Orange County Human Relations Commission with a Certificate of Commendation in recognition of “contributions and efforts to cultivate genuine understanding and appreciation for the ideals of equality, human rights and justice.” Baron also co-authored the book, What Did You Learn In School Today: A Comprehensive Guide to Getting the Best Possible Education, which was published by Warner Books and endorsed by groups including the College Board, National PTA, and the National Institute for Education. The book was later adopted by the Consumers’ Union and published by Consumer Reports Magazine as their parent guide to Education in the United States. Baron will be honored and presented with his award at the 58th California Council for the Social Studies Annual Conference in San Jose, March 15-17, 2020. The Hilda Taba Award is named for Hilda Taba, a university professor at San Francisco State University who significantly influenced education and is internationally renowned for her work in “concept development” in the social studies.
One of Arum’s current research projects is a national pilot study gathering data on undergraduate experiences to increase understanding of what makes a college education so valuable. Another branch of his research explores the relationships between neighborhood disadvantage, digital media and educational outcomes.
Duncan’s scholarship focuses on the economics of education, program evaluation, and child development. He is currently pursuing an experimental study of the impact of monthly, unconditional cash gifts to low-income mothers and their children in the first three years of the child’s life. The study is designed to identify whether reducing poverty can affect early childhood development and the family processes that support children’s development. Hess, the American Enterprise Institute director of education and Education Week blogger, and a committee of 29 scholars use nine metrics to calculate how much university-based academics contribute to public discussions of education. The metrics include Google Scholar score, book points, highest Amazon ranking, syllabus points, education press mentions, web mentions, newspaper mentions, Congressional Record mentions, and Twitter score. The annual RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings, which were first published in December 2010, are intended to recognize and encourage “disciplinary scholarship, policy analysis and popular writing, convening and shepherding of collaborations, incisive media commentary, and speaking in the public square.”
"Researchers in my field often contend that it is beneficial for children who speak with a dialect to become bidialectal, that is, able to shift between informal forms of English, such as African American English, and standardized forms of English when it is expected. However, I feel that it is important to understand how young African American adults view the concept of dialect-shifting - whether they use it as a method of assimilation or as a coping mechanism, or whether they actually resist the practice, and their reasons for their choices - in an environment where they make up a very small percentage of the population.”
The Inclusive Excellence Spirit Awards support faculty activities which promote equity, diversity and inclusion on campus among faculty, students, and staff, as well as the community served by UCI. Gatlin's research foci include language, reading, writing, cultural and linguistic diversity, measurement and assessment, and instruction. She believes that understanding the needs of children from racially, ethnically, economically, and linguistically diverse backgrounds is a priority in educational research. The majority of her research explores relations among language variation, namely nonmainstream American English or dialect, and literacy achievement among culturally and linguistically diverse students in early developmental stages of reading. Her ongoing research explores similarities and differences among bilingual and bidialectal learners in order to determine potential implications for improvement in assessment and instruction among linguistically diverse students. The Office of Inclusive Excellence drives UCI's commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion, considered fundamental to advancing the campus's mission as a public research university.
Members discussed the following topics:
The next Credential Advisory Council meeting will be held in spring 2020. 
The 2019 conference featured two keynote speakers: Kelly Gallagher, English Language Arts teacher at Magnolia High School, Anaheim, California, and Penny Kittle, Teaching Lecturer in English, Plymouth State University, who together co-authored 180 Days: Two Teachers and the Quest to Engage and Empower Adolescents. “Gallagher and Kittle collaborated for an entire school year: planning, teaching, and reflecting within their own and each other's classrooms in California and New Hampshire, then published what they learned in 180 Days," Olson said. “We are delighted to have the two master teachers on hand.” Gallagher and Kittle co-delivered the morning keynote, entitled, “Motivating Young Writers: Relevance, Engagement, and Agency.” "By considering classroom condition grounded in these key principles - relevance, engagement, and agency - we can help writers construct identities of power and opportunity and to challenge themselves through meaningful talk in writing groups both inside and outside our classrooms," Gallagher said.
Following the morning keynote address, attendees expressed their appreciation for the benefits they receive from the annual conferences.
The afternoon keynote address, also delivered by Gallagher and Kittle, was entitled “Motivating Young Readers: Strategies for Engaging Inquiry with Books.” "There is a big difference between compliant readers and engaged readers," Kittle said, "and there are strategies for moving all students — including those who have lost their momentum as readers — into engaging inquiry with books." Following the keynote addresses, Kittle was effusive in her praise of the annual writing conference. "Professor Olson has supported and empowered such an incredible group of educators," Kittle said. "The quality of talk about writing is better than anywhere... so impressive." Workshops included the following: Morning Session
Afternoon Session
View images from the 2019 Literacy Conference here. The 26th Annual Literacy Conference for Teachers will be held in December 2020. ABOUT THE UCI WRITING PROJECT
Established in 1978, UCI Writing Project is the 13th site of the California Writing Project and the oldest of the Subject Matter Projects on the University of California, Irvine campus. Located in UCI's Graduate School of Education, UCIWP is one of 200 sites of the National Writing Project. UCIWP has trained 800 teachers/consultants from 85 local school districts and twelve colleges and universities. Additionally, the project has trained 675 teachers in its open program on Reading, Writing, and Critical Thinking, and 600 teachers in the Governor's Professional Development Institutes. The project has reached over 20,000 teachers via conferences and inservice programs. It was the first California Writing Project site to create a summer youth program, which has grown from 35 students and 2 teachers in 1984 to more than 2500 students and 200 teachers in 2013. UCIWP has been hosting a yearly conference since 1995. School of Education welcomes Beijing Normal doctoral students for weeklong research project11/26/2019
To enrich their understanding of the structure of higher education in California, the scholars also visited Compton Community College, Chapman University, and California State University, Fullerton. In June 2018, Arum, along with Associate Professors of Education Drew Bailey and Susanne Jaeggi, traveled to BNU for a Joint Symposium on Learning, Memory, and Development. There, Arum delivered a lecture entitled, "Improving Undergraduate Learning: Recent U.S. Research and Initiatives." “We look forward to returning to Beijing in 2020, to learning more about the country’s educational system, and to conducting research that can benefit both nations,” Arum said. To view photos from BNU’s visit to UCI, please click here. Research Projects Group 1, mentored by School of Education Assistant Professor Nia Dowell, focused on the emotion and development of college students. Team members were Di Zhang, Cuicui Liu, Xia Su, Na Li, and Yijuan Liu. Presentation topics included:
"I found mentoring these students to be extremely rewarding," Dowell said. "I was very impressed with the quality of their research plans, and the significant cross-cultural practical applications associated with each of their chosen topics." Group 2, mentored by School of Education Associate Professor Hosun Kang, focused on the development and organizational influence of teachers in higher education. Team members were Wenjie Wang, Xuerong Fan, Kai Wang, and Dexin Yang. Presentations topics included:
"I was impressed about our team’s collegiality, support, and professionalism," Kang said. "They are all asking very important questions deeply grounded in their own experiences. I commend the progress that they made during such a short period of time." Group 3, mentored by School of Education Assistant Professor of Teaching Fernando Rodriguez, focus on university teaching and assessment of quality training. Team members were Bolian Men, Fujuan Wang, and Xi Zhang. Topics included:
"I really learned a lot from listening to my mentee’s perspectives about their research area," Rodriguez said. "They had valuable ideas about teaching and learning that I never fully considered. It was truly an honor to be part of this wonderful program." Group 4 was mentored by Professor of Education Mark Warschauer. Team members were Zhiqiang Li, Qingsong Xie, Fang Xue, Ling Fan, and Hongliang Wang. All five of the members focused on an exploration of the educational system under culture, policy, and power. Their presentation was titled "The 'Double First-Class' Project in China: Political, Economic, and Cultural Perspectives."
"This was a wonderful opportunity to get to know doctoral students from China's premier educational research university and exchange ideas on the study of higher education," said Dr. Warschauer. "It was a great learning experience for all involved on both sides." 
Xu has been working with her advisor, Professor Mark Warschauer, on the Digital Learning Lab project Conversational Agents for Young Learners, which is using conversation-based audio stories to promote early language and literacy skills and science videos to foster scientific knowledge and curiosity.
"The conversational agent pauses at particular points in the story," explains Xu, "and prompts children to answer an open-ended question. The conversational agent then gives feedback on the children’s responses, explaining why the answer is correct or incorrect. We expect that findings from our research will offer design implications for dialogic systems for young children’s informal learning." "The entire Converse to Learn project was Xu's idea," Warschauer said. "It's amazing how she was able to bring to fruition an innovation that can potentially reach millions of children with more engaging ways to develop language ability and scientific knowledge." Xu is a fourth year Ph.D. candidate specializing in Language, Literacy, and Technology. She graduated from Sun Yat-sen University with a B.A. in Chinese Linguistics and Literature and earned an M.A. in Comparative and World Literature. Her academic training, together with her work experience as a children’s educational media designer, have guided her interdisciplinary research at the intersection of language development, education, and human-computer interaction. During Xu’s time as a doctoral student at UCI, she has contributed to three research projects funded by the Institute of Education Sciences and the National Science Foundation, in which she enthusiastically embraces using learning principles to maximize the benefits of cutting-edge educational technologies in supporting student learning in diverse communities. Doctoral student receives Seed Grant from Consortium on the Developmental Science of Adolescence11/25/2019
With support from UC Office of the President, the UC Consortium on the Developmental Science of Adolescence is a part of the Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives. The consortium consists of multidisciplinary researchers from UCLA, UC Davis, UC Berkeley, UCI, and UC Santa Cruz. The Consortium hosts a yearly summer institute, where Woo will be presenting her research in 2020.
Woo's research interests include social-emotional learning, development of executive functions, family engagement, motivation, identity development, and critical consciousness. Woo, who holds a master's degree in Mind, Brain, and Education from Harvard University and a M.B.A. from UC Berkeley, has worked as a human capital consultant, executive coach, Montessori language director, career coach, and university instructor. Read more about Woo's research projects here.
Estimates of teacher “value-added” suggest teachers vary substantially in their ability to promote student learning. Prompted by this finding, many states and school districts have adopted value-added measures as indicators of teacher job performance. In this paper, we conduct a new test of the validity of value-added models. Using administrative student data from New York City, we apply commonly estimated value-added models to an outcome teachers cannot plausibly affect: student height. We find the standard deviation of teacher effects on height is nearly as large as that for math and reading achievement, raising obvious questions about validity. Subsequent analysis finds these “effects” are largely spurious variation (noise), rather than bias resulting from sorting on unobserved factors related to achievement. Given the difficulty of differentiating signal from noise in real-world teacher effect estimates, this paper serves as a cautionary tale for their use in practice.
School confers awards on 51 teacher education candidates at 2019 MAT Recognition Ceremony10/31/2019
(November 1, 2019) - The UCI School of Education Master of Arts in Teaching program recognized the accomplishments in academic achievement and community engagement of 51 outstanding teacher education candidates during the School’s annual MAT Awards Ceremony. The nine categories of awards to 51 candidates both represent the largest number in school history. The Promising Master of Arts in Teaching Award, the MAT Leadership Award, and the Santa Ana School District Residency Certificate were each awarded for the first time.
"It is always an honor to get the opportunity to recognize the talented and committed pre-service teachers in our program," said Virginia Panish, Director of Teacher Education. "All of these future teachers have made sacrifices and life choices in order to fulfill their commitment to serving and improving the lives of young people. I have no doubt that they will continue to learn from their work with youth and eventually become leaders in their schools and communities." “We live in a challenging historic moment, and the work you do as teachers is a direct response to those challenges – through civic engagement and education, we provide a path forward,” Richard Arum, dean and professor of the UCI School of Education said to the MAT students in attendance. “You’re not only making a difference in people’s lives and in their learning, but also providing an example of how to live a life full of purpose.” Arum initiated the awards presentation by announcing recipients of the Dean’s Scholarship, which recognizes honorees for their academic achievement and commitment to developing their skills and knowledge as new teachers. Dean’s Scholarship Recipients
 Susan Toma Berge, Multiple Subject Coordinator, presented the Laura E. Settle Scholarship, established to honor Laura E. Settle, founder of the California Retired Teachers Association. The award recognizes pre-service teachers with financial need and an exemplary character. Laura E. Settle Scholarship Recipient
 Mary Roosevelt presented the Mary Roosevelt Honor Scholarship in Teaching and Learning, awarded to MAT candidates exhibiting excellence in academic scholarship who have demonstrated dedication to improving the lives and educational opportunities of students and the skills and dispositions of leadership. Mary Roosevelt Honor Scholarship Recipients
 Elizabeth van Es, Associate Dean, presented the Rudy Hanley Scholarships, granted to incoming students pursuing a master’s in teaching who demonstrate the highest level potential for future success in their academic endeavors and future career. Rudy Hanley Scholarships Recipients
 Professor Carol Booth Olson presented the Owen Thomas Memorial Scholarship, which honors an outstanding UCI undergraduate in English committed to secondary English teaching. Owen Thomas Memorial Scholarship Recipient
 Panish awarded the President’s Educator Fellowship, provided by the University of California Office of the President to support students with a demonstrated commitment to working in public schools that primarily serve students from low-income families. President’s Educator Fellowship Recipients
 Acacia Warren, Single Subject Coordinator, presented the MAT Leadership Award, which honors a student who has demonstrated exceptional leadership abilities. MAT Leadership Award Recipient
 Warren and Toma-Berge jointly presented the Promising Master of Arts in Teaching Award, provided through an Hispanic Serving Institution grant from the Department of Education to support students who demonstrate the potential to become inspirational teachers. Promising Master of Arts in Teaching Award Recipients
  Warren distributed certificates to the 10 candidates currently participating in the Santa Ana Unified School District Residency Program, a partnership between the district and UCI School of Education. Residents are recognized for their demonstrated commitment to developing the skills, knowledge and dispositions of exceptional science and mathematics teachers. Santa Ana USD Residency Certificate Recipients
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