News from WCER

Tom Carpenter, Transformer of Child-Centered Math Teaching, Dies at 78

August 14, 2018   |   By Karen Rivedal

UW-Madison professor Tom Carpenter, whose student-centered ideas about teaching math to young children from all backgrounds and skill levels helped transform the field of mathematics education for students and teachers, died August 7 from complications of Parkinson’s disease.


MEP Receives New Grant to Assess, Improve 4K Instruction in Madison

July 27, 2018

A joint research practice partnership between UW-Madison and the Madison Metropolitan School District has received a $400,000 federal grant for a two-year study to assess and improve instruction in the district’s 4-year-old kindergarten program. Teaching is to be enhanced with the design and piloting of a made-to-order professional development program built around the needs of the district’s 4K educators.


New Study Finds Far Fewer Middle-Skill Jobs in U.S. than Estimated

July 16, 2018

Skilled non-college occupations account for 16% of all jobs, significantly below widely cited estimates


UW–Madison’s Mathieu Appointed to National STEM Education Advisory Panel

July 16, 2018

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has selected Robert D. Mathieu, the Albert E. Whitford Professor of Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, as an inaugural member of the STEM Education Advisory Panel. Mathieu, director of the university’s Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER) and associate dean for research at its School of Education, begins his first term on the national panel immediately and could serve up to three years.


Gagnon to Use NSF Grant to Engage Girls in Science, Tech

May 22, 2018

Girls’ interest in art and media design may be a means of engaging them in science and technology related to information and communication.


Madison Education Partnership Explores Impact of MMSD Student Absences

May 22, 2018

This news release describes the Madison Education Partnership's third research study, which focuses on the attendance of students from kindergarten through third grade in the Madison Metropolitan School District. The study finds that children with unexcused absences perform far worse in school than those with excused absences. However, these differences may not necessarily be caused by missing school but by other challenges children with unexcused absences may face, such as poverty or a school's response to unexcused absences.


International Society of Learning Sciences Recognizes Nathan, Puntambekar

May 21, 2018

UW-Madison’s Mitchell Nathan and Sadhana Puntambekar each were recently elected as a Fellow of the International Society of Learning Sciences (ISLS).


New Grants Explore How College Students Transition to Work

May 14, 2018

News release announcing the first grants awarded by CCWT to research focused on college to work transitions.


Campus Society Honors Hillman

May 2, 2018

WCER researcher Nicholas Hillman received honorary membership in the UW–Madison chapter of Phi Kappa Phi, a student honors society. He is an associate professor of educational leadership and policy analysis. The chapter inducted 142 students and gave honor membership to two other professors at an April ceremony.


Madison Education Partnership’s First Public Meeting Focuses on Four-Year-Old Kindergarten Results

April 23, 2018

Parents, teachers and anyone interested in learning how Madison Metropolitan School District’s (MMSD) four-year-old kindergarten (4K) is supporting local children is invited to the first community presentation of research on the MMSD 4K program by the Madison Education Partnership (MEP).


WIDA Conference Extends Call for Proposals

January 25, 2018

Submit your presentation proposal before the new deadline of Feb. 4.


Hora Receives National Book Honor

January 25, 2018

Book challenges the argument that higher education is insufficiently attuned to workplace needs


WIDA Awarded $147,221 to Improve Outcomes for Alaskan Yup’ik Students

January 25, 2018

Project seeks to improve outcomes for Alaskan Yup’ik native students in school and life.


Ghousseini Awarded $2.5 Million to Study Teachers’ Thinking

January 25, 2018

The project will study how teachers' thinking and sensemaking may support or constrain their learning to promote disciplinary argumentation.


Wisconsin K-12 Teachers: Come Have a Field Day!

January 17, 2018

If you love teaching and are looking for new ways to inspire your K-12 students outside the classroom, we invite you to apply for a Field Day Fellowship.