HGSE News - March 2009

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Graduate School of Education News

March 2009

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Features

Networking image Thanks for the Add. Now Help Me with My Homework (from Ed. magazine)
Many high school students spend hours a day sharing photos and chatting with friends on sites like Facebook and MySpace. As Christine Greenhow, Ed.D.’06, found in her newly released study, social networking sites are not only fun and games, they also offer educational value for students and — gasp — teachers.

Time to Make the Move: Rob Huntington, Ed.D.'97
Rob Huntington, Ed.D.'97, will fulfill a major career goal on July 1 when he assumes his new role as president of Heidelberg University in Tiffin, Ohio.

Tishman Named Director of Project Zero
Lecturer Shari Tishman was appointed the new director of Project Zero, a research group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education that investigates the development of learning processes in children, adults, and organizations.

HGSE G.I.V.E.S. to Local Elementary School
Volunteers helped out at a local elementary school on a recent weekend as part of the Graduate Students in Various Efforts of Service (G.I.V.E.S.) program that aims to enhance the student experience by providing a forum for the HGSE community to learn about and participate in service to the community at large.

Siury Pulgar Master's Student Named Citizen of the Year
International Education Policy Program (IEP) master's student Siury Puglar recently was named a citizen of the year by El Nacional - a major newspaper in Venezuela. Pulgar received the honor along with Silvia Martin, a fellow for her 10,000 Book Challenge.

Koretz Receives Book Award for Measuring Up
Professor Daniel Koretz received the 2009 Outstanding Book Award on February 7 from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) for his book, Measuring Up: What Educational Testing Really Tells Us.

Snow and Koretz Appointed to Named Chairs
Dean Kathleen McCartney announced the appointment of two faculty members to endowed chairs. Catherine Snow was named Patricia Albjerg Graham Professor and Daniel Koretz was named Henry Lee Shattuck Professor, the chair being vacated by Snow.

To view a more complete list of feature stories, please visit the HGSE News home page.

Usable Knowledge

The Usable Knowledge website at the Harvard Graduate School of Education is aimed at connecting the research of its faculty with educators in the field. It features a diverse set of media – text, video, and audio – organized around five topic areas that align with high priorities for educators: teaching and curriculum; community and family; learning and development; leadership and policy; and decisions through data. Each topic area includes a number of articles from HGSE faculty, written for practitioners and intended to provide convenient access to research that impacts education.

To sign-up for the Usable Knowledge newsletter visit their website: http://www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/

Features

Jerry Murphy The Leadership Trap
Professor Jerome Murphy discusses how to unlock the "leadership trap" and presents the key to better performance as a leader in this new interactive feature for the Usable Knowledge community.

Still Getting Ready for School: Supporting Students as They Prepare for College
Associate Professor Bridget Terry Long describes her research on the progress of students who enroll in college remediation courses. She discusses innovative approaches designed to help high school students and their families learn about academic and financial preparation for college.

Events

Askwith Education Forums

March 5: The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk, and Adventure in the 25 Years after 50
A special discussion with Professor Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot on her new book in which she offers a strong counterpoint to the murky ambivalence that shrouds our clear view of people in their third chapters, the years between 50 and 75.

March 10: Yes We Can! A Panel on Closing the Achievement Gaps
The authors of three recent books -- Jane Waldfogel, professor at Columbia University; Richard Nisbett, professor at the University of Michigan; and Ronald Ferguson, faculty director of the Achievement Gap Initiative at Harvard University -- will address how closing racial achievement gaps is indeed possible.

March 17: Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns
A discussion with Clayton Christensen, professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, on his new book, Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns, which examines how the way we learn doesn't always match up with the way we are taught and explains that if we hope to stay competitive academically, economically, and technologically we need to rethink our understanding of intelligence, reevaluate our educational system, and reinvigorate our commitment to learning.

Other HGSE Events

March 2: Distinguished Scholar Lecture Series: Eric Kandel, M.D.
Kandel, winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize for "Molecular Biology of Memory Storage and the Biological Basis of Individuality," will consider the neural systems and molecular mechanisms that contribute to learning and long-term memory.

Please check the HGSE Events Calendar frequently for information on more upcoming campus events.

HGSE In The Media

The following is a list of recent media appearances by HGSE faculty members. Please note: websites are increasingly requiring registration and, in some cases, charging fees for viewing content. Current availability is noted.

The Developing Child
Dean Kathleen McCartney and Professors Shonkoff, Snow, and Yoshikawa are featured in the cover story of the current Harvard Magazine. The piece explores Harvard's approach of combining science, policy, and practice to explore and impact child development. (Harvard Magazine, 3/09-4/09)

Schools as Centers of Community
"One of my dreams is to set up a nonprofit that would go into the very same communities I came from and work alongside schools to build partnerships to support students." - Doctoral candidate and Interim Director of the Principals' Center Al Witten, Ed.M.'02, Ed.M.'03 (Harvard Gazette, 2/26/09)

Author: Schools Need to Better Engage Using the Internet
"The Net Generation is not unmotivated. They need coaching and mentoring." - Change Leadership Group Director Tony Wagner (The Morning News, 2/16/09)

He’s the Angel of Harlem
"I graduated from Bowdoin College and went to the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Then I left and took a job teaching really poor inner-city white kids in Boston. It was interesting to me because I'd never been around poor whites before." - Geoffrey Canada, Ed.M.'75 (Newsweek, 2/14/09)

The Evolution of Education: Empowering Learners To Think, Create, Share, and Do
"I am more excited about educational technology right now than at any other time in my career." - Professor Chris Dede (The Journal, 1/09)

Harvard Education Publishing Group

The March/April issue of the Harvard Education Letter features a cover story on ‘Money and Motivation” and how new initiatives have rekindled the debate over the link between rewards and student achievement. Also in this issue is "An Inexact Science" by Robert Rothman which discusses the technical challenges involved in using value-added measures, as well as W. James Popham on six stumbling blocks to our schools’ success.

This month Harvard Education Press will release two important new books, From the Courtroom to the Classroom: The Shifting Landscape of School Desegregation edited by Claire Smrekar and Ellen Goldring and Unlearned Lessons: Six Stumbling Blocks to Our Schools’ Success by W. James Popham. From the Courtroom to the Classroom examines recent developments pertaining to school desegregation in the United States. In Unlearned Lessons, Popham looks back over a career of more than 50 years in education and identifies six key "unlearned lessons." In this account, Popham shows how each of these six mistakes has persisted over time, gives examples of encounters with these mistakes in the course of his professional career, and points the way toward straightforward solutions.

Harvard Family Research Project

Supporting Student Outcomes Through Expanded Learning Opportunities
This new paper looks at the role of after school and summer learning programs in supporting student success. It explores how to bridge the divide between out-of-school time programs and schools by offering research-derived principles for effective expanded learning partnerships. It was commissioned by Learning Point Associates and the Collaborative for Building After-School Systems (CBASS) as part of a report on school reform and expanded learning.

Programs in Professional Education

March 11 - 14: New and Aspiring School Leaders Institute

March 13 - 14: Annual Learning Differences Conference: Executive Function in the 21st Century Classroom

March 16 - 19: Crisis Leadership in Higher Education

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