Summer 2008 News
Department of Education Introduces Coaching Certificate in Advance of December 2008 Certification Requirements
The Department of Education has introduced a two-class series for UC Irvine students to earn a “UC Irvine Coaching Certificate” for sports. The certificate, which includes academic and field experience components, was designed by long-time DOE Lecturer and sports enthusiast Jeff Johnston. For 19 years, Mr. Johnston, has coached Division 1 Golf at UC Irvine and worked in the Athletic Department, in addition to teaching in the DOE Multiple Subjects Credential Program and the Undergraduate Minor in Educational Studies. He holds two Master’s degrees, one from USC in Sports and Ethics and the second from University of Illinois in Sports Administration. Mr. Johnston's commitment to the integration of sports and academics is well known: “I feel a special kinship to sport and its healthy and unique role in education.”
The UC Irvine Coaching Certificate addresses both theoretical and practical approaches to responsible coaching. “Given that the primary role of coaching is to teach, and given that coaches rarely receive any training toward the skills and philosophy of coaching beyond their own playing experience, the coaching certificate will provide the kind of training needed for effective coaching at the high school and other levels.”
The first course in the coaching certificate program focuses on foundational theories and instructional practices in coaching sports. The principles under study will apply to any person coaching from fourth grade to college level student-athletes, with developmental considerations. The second class focuses on the application of theory in a 40-hour field experience. Upon completion of both classes, a UC Irvine student will be well prepared for the California high school certification exams, a requirement of California coaches, effective December 2008.
UCI Writing Project Delivers 31st Year of Summer Programs for Classroom Teachers and 24th Year of Summer Youth Programs
UCI Writing Project Director
This summer 2,600 young people, from kindergarten through grade 12, will participate in the Summer Youth Programs offered by the UCI Writing Project (UCIWP). Southern California students and students who travel from other states and as far away as Korea and Taiwan will enroll in one or more of the focused writing workshops offered for three-week sessions from June 23 through August 21. The UCI Writing Project also will be delivering a series of summer workshops for teachers and administrators. For Summer 2008, twenty educators have been awarded fellowships to attend the Summer Institute on the Teaching of Composition and Literature, where they will enroll for 100 hours for 10 quarter-units. Approximately 50 educators will enroll in one of the five specialized programs for teachers and administrators. Over the past 30 years, the UCIWP has trained 700 teacher/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 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. The UCI Writing Project was the first California Writing Project site to introduce a summer youth program. From a 1984 summer with 35 students and two teachers, the Summer Youth Programs has grown to the 2008 enrollment of 2,600 young people taught by 280 teachers. The UCI Writing Project is directed by Senior Lecturer Carol Booth Olson, Ph.D.
New Grants
Assistant Professor Elizabeth van Es Receives Knowles Science Teaching Foundation Young Scholars Fellowship
Elizabeth van Es, Assistant Professor researching teacher cognition, professional development, and teacher learning communities, is one of four scholars nationwide to receive a 2008 Knowles Science Teaching Foundation Young Scholars Fellowship. Dr. van Es has been awarded a full fellowship totaling $110,000 over two years for her project entitled: What do you notice: Understanding the nature and development of pre-service teachers' professional vision for reform teaching.
The Knowles Science Teaching Foundation (KSTF) was established in 1999 to enhance the quality of high school science and mathematics teaching. The Young Scholars Fellowship is designed to support early career scholars engaged in research critical to the recruitment, preparation, induction, mentoring, and retention of science and mathematics teachers in U.S. high schools. A panel of expert reviewers judged the overall merit of each proposal with respect to the mission of KSTF, as well as the potential of the scholar to make important contributions to his or her respective fields. Dr. van Es's proposed research project "received exceptionally high praise from all reviewers" (KSTF, 4/4/08).
Associate Professor Joseph Mahoney Awarded NICHD Grant to Study Consequences of Summertime for Adolescent Development
Dr. Mahoney has received a 2-year grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Mahoney will be studying the consequences of summertime for adolescent development. Summertime constitutes about 23% of the calendar year for school-aged youth. It also represents the longest consecutive period of out-of-school time. However, less than 1% of published studies over the past 40 years has been concerned with summer and, as a result, very little is known about how youth spend the summer months or the possible of impact of this time use for adolescents' academic, social, and physical development during school year. Findings from this study should begin to fill the knowledge gap in these areas and specify the risks and opportunities of summertime for adolescent development.
Assistant Professor Lindsey Richland Receives National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship to Study the Long Term Impact of Parental Scaffolding on Children's Cognitive and Mathematical Skills
Parents and teachers contribute in different, important ways to children's development of academically key thinking and learning skills. While much research has focused on identifying high quality classroom pedagogies, much less is known about the parental contribution to children's reasoning. With relevance to mathematics education in particular, little is known about how parents scaffold children's problem solving, how their practices are related to children's long-term development of analytical and problem-solving skills, and whether their practices are related to the achievement gap. This project examines these questions using longitudinal, repeated-measures data from the NICHD Study of Early Care and Youth Development, a prospective study of 1364 children and families from birth through sixth grade. The project assesses mothers and fathers' home scaffolding practices while helping their child solve complex problems at five time periods from when the child is 36 months to fifth grade. Structural equation models (SEM) will then test the longitudinal association between parental scaffolding and children's math attainment both directly and through the child's cognitive skills. Ethnicity, income, and maternal education will be included in the model to determine whether the effects of parental scaffolding mediate known contributions of these variables to the math achievement gap.
Assistant Professor Rossella Santagata Awarded Single Investigator Innovation Grant
Assistant Professor Rossella Santagata has been awarded a Single Investigator Innovation Grant by the UC Irvine Academic Senate Council on Research, Computing and Libraries (CORCL) for her project "Video Enhanced Fieldwork for the Preparation of Mathematics Teachers."
Dr. Santagata's pilot study will test the feasibility and effectiveness of a video-based curriculum that supplements fieldwork experience in teacher preparation programs.
By learning to interpret videos of classroom instruction, pre-service teachers may more precisely connect the knowledge they gain in their courses with real classes observed in the field. Video also provides pre-service teachers with a common set of experiences that may be drawn upon to develop a shared language for describing and discussing classroom practice. Moreover, because video can be accessed digitally and replayed at will, it allows for a depth of reflection and analysis impracticable during live observations.
Pre-service teachers enrolled in the Multi-Subject Credential program at the UCI Department of Education will participate in the intervention. Both qualitative and quantitative data will be collected to study feasibility and fidelity of implementation as well as participants' reactions, learning, and application of acquired knowledge and skills.
Assistant Professor Rebecca Black and Bill Tomlinson (Department of Informatics) Awarded Council on Research, Computing and Library Resources (CORCLR) Grant to investigate “New Media Technologies and Civic Literacy.”
Civic literacy skills and public voices are increasingly necessary for effective participation and interaction in our technology-mediated society. Through two interconnected efforts, this research aims to help youth develop these abilities. The first effort involves exploration of the many forms of social activism and civic discussion that are already taking place in youth-oriented online spaces. This includes a focus on how youths’ activity related to fan fiction, video gaming, and social networking (e.g., creating and circulating petitions, debating the merits of particular game characters, joining groups) can be related to more traditional forms of political and social activism. The second effort involves the design and implementation of an online space aimed at the production and dissemination of texts related to social issues and civic activism. To date, no existing site provides a context in which youth can successively refine and disseminate their own views about these issues. The site design will be informed by the data gathered during the exploration effort of the project in order to enable youth to write, refine, discuss, and distribute position pieces on issues of concern to them. Taken together, these two efforts will provide new insights into understudied areas—how youth are currently using new media and information and communication technologies to engage in forms of activism, and how these understandings can be used to further scaffold civic literacy skills and potentially promote further civic engagement at local and global levels.
New Publications
Lecturer Dennis Evans Publishes Third Edition of Taking Sides Book
Lecturer Dennis Evans’
Forthcoming Publications
Mahoney, J. L., Parente, M. E., & Zigler, E. F. (in press). Afterschool program participation and children’s development. To appear in J. Meece & J. Eccles (Eds.), The handbook on schools, schooling, and human development.
Mahoney, J. L., Vandell, D. L., Simpkins, S., & Zarrett, N. (in press). Adolescent out-of-school activities. To appear in R. M. Lerner & L. Steinberg (Eds.), Handbook of adolescent psychology (3rd Ed).
Congratulations to our 2007-2008 Doctors of Education
Carolyn Bishop, Ed.D., UCI/UCLA
Dissertation: Looking at Predictors of Adult Success in Online Courses
Current Position: Regional Director, CalState TEACH, Fullerton
Ramon Cusi, Ed.D., UCI/UCLA
Dissertation: Technology and Equity: Explaining Differences Between Elementary Teachers' Use of Computers in Low-Income Latino and Middle-Class Schools
Current Position: Vice Principal, Davis Senior High School, Davis, California
Satinder Hawkins, Ed.D., UCI/UCLA
Dissertation: Influence of Gender Identity, Families, Peers, and Schools on Academic Success Among High School Boys
Current Position: National Board Certified Teacher, Long Beach Unified School District; Lecturer, CSU Long Beach
Amy Hughes-Leveque, Ed.D., UCI/UCLA
Dissertation: Rigor and Caring in a Small Learning Community: Can Tracking be Effective for At-Risk High School Students?
Julie Keck Centeno, Ed.D., UCI/UCLA
Dissertation: The Path to School Improvement: A Case Study of an Urban Elementary School
Current Position: Lecturer, UC Irvine
Akemi Morioka, Ed.D., UCI/UCLA
Dissertation: Teaching Japanese with Content-Based Instruction
Current Position: Academic Coordinator/Lecturer of the Japanese Language Program, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, UCI
Kirran Moss, Ed.D., CSU/UCI
Dissertation: Preventing the Storm From Gathering? A Case Study: The California State University Math and Science Teacher Initiative
Current Position: Evaluator, California State University Chancellor's Office
Jonathan O'Brien, Ed.D., CSU/UCI
Dissertation: Understanding Men's Engagement in Higher Education
Current Position: Associate Dean of Students, Occidental College, Los Angeles
Cathy Patterson, Ed.D., CSU/UCI
Dissertation: Exploring Highly Disruptive Behavior in the Elementary School Classroom
Current Position: Assistant Principal, Evergreen Elementary School, Walnut Valley Unified School District
LaWanna Shelton, Ed.D., CSU/UCI
Dissertation: Overrepresentation of Middle School Second Language Learners in Special Education
Current Position: ELL Coordinator, Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools
Kurt Suhr, Ed.D., CSU/UCI
Dissertation: Laptops and Fourth Grade Literacy: Assisting the Jump Over the "Fourth Grade Slump"
Current Position: Principal, Newport Heights Elementary School, Newport Beach
Keith Tuominen, Ed.D., UCI/UCLA
Dissertation: Formative Assessment and Collaborative Teaming With Support Involving Middle School Mathematics Teachers
Current Position: Principal, Venado Middle School, Irvine
Pamela Walker, Ed.D., UCI/UCLA
Dissertation: The Impact of a Series of Poetry Workshops on the Cognitive Development of Middle School Students
Current Position: Faculty Member, College of Education and Integrative Studies, Cal Poly Pomona
Richard Weiss, Ed.D., UCI/UCLA
Dissertation: Avenues of Access to Future Science Teachers: An Interview Study
Current Position: High School Teacher, Mission Viejo High School, Mission Viejo
