HGSE in the Media

May 2008

New-Media Scholars' Place in 'the Pool' Could Lead to Tenure
"I don't know how you authenticate the value of Web-site hits or what people say on Web sites." - Professor Richard Chait (The Chrionicle of Higher Education, 05/30/08. Registration required.)

New Rx for Doctors: Go Back to School
"This year six doctors are pursuing a one-year master’s degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). The students are all part of the School’s flexible Special Study Program that allows them to design their own curriculum and tailor it to their individual interests." (Harvard Gazette, 05/15/08)

Princess Zahra Outlines the Work of Aga Khan Development Network
"Princess Zahra Aga Khan ’94 came home to Harvard this week (May 13) to present a hopeful vision of what education in the developing world can be like. The forum was in Askwith Hall in Longfellow Hall, at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The occasion was the Dean’s Distinguished Lecture, which she was there to give." (Harvard Gazette, 05/15/08)

Educating Children Early
"The basic science of brain development says you need to start as early as possible for kids in the greatest danger to get the best outcomes." - Professor Jack Shonkoff (Tuscaloosa News, 05/15/08)

Turn Teen Texting Toward Better Writing
"But how can educators help students carry that motivation for writing from a social world into motivation for writing that will serve them in the classroom? The answer is for teachers to venture into the digital world of "screenagers" and find productive ways to bring social media into the classroom." - Doctoral candidate Justin Reich (The Christian Science Monitor, 05/13/08)

The Truth Hurts
"In their 2000 study, authors Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland of Project Zero, an arts-education program at Harvard Graduate school of education, found no proof that studying the arts causes academic improvement. According to their study, 'it is implausible to suppose that the arts can be as effective a means of teaching an academic subject as is direct teaching of that subject.'" (The San Francisco Sentinel, 05/14/08)

A Design-It-Yourself Student-Loan Program
"Due to historical accident and lack of imagination, student-loan repayment has been modeled on private-loan repayment, with the same monthly payment schedule that is used for home mortgages and car loans. For consumer loans, a fixed payment schedule has advantages: It keeps the cost of capital low by providing investors with a regular, predictable stream of revenue; and it helps households to budget a known expense against a known income." - Professor Tom Kane (The Chronicle for Higher Education, 05/02/08. Registration required.)

Building Gaming Into Science Education
"A science-related time-travel game, called The River City Project, that blends 21st-century skills with history, sociology, and science is 'a powerful way of teaching and learning,' says Chris Dede, the principal investigator for the project and a professor in learning technologies at Harvard University." (Education Week, 04/30/08. Free registration required.)

Special Schools for Pregnant Girls?
"The support for these specialized programs is critical in that they provide models of possibility in what can be done in school systems." - Associate Professor Wendy Luttrell (The Christian Science Monitor, 04/30/08)

Too Much Testing?
"The more you put pressure on a given indicator, the more you end up corrupting whatever it is the indicator is supposed to measure. It's not uncommon to find bogus gains that are in the vicinity of three, four or five times as much as real gains." - Professor Dan Koretz (The Contra Costa Times, 04/27/08)

Science, Politics and Preschool
"If you start at age 4 for kids who are at a disadvantage, you're not starting early, you're playing catch-up." - Professor Jack Shonkoff (Chicago Tribune, 04/27/08)

Whatever Happened to Iraq?   
"Harvard University Professor Howard Gardner...explains that when a news story becomes repetitive, people 'habituate' — the technical term for what happens when they no longer take in information. 'You can be sure that if American deaths were going up, or if there was a draft, then there would not be acceptance of the status quo,' Gardner wrote in an April 17 e-mail." (American Journalism Review, April/May 2008)