News from WCER
New Look at School Discipline Confronts Wisconsin’s Opportunities Gap
November 16, 2014
Across the nation, from kindergarten through high school, black, Native American and Latino students in public schools are disciplined more frequently and severely for more subjective reasons than their white peers, according to UW-Madison’s Aydin Bal.
Studying Far from Home, Xueli Wang Discovers Kinship with Two-Year College Students
November 11, 2014
In 2004, Xueli Wang moved from China to attend graduate school at The Ohio State University. The transition was far from easy.
Mentors Deserve Better Training
October 28, 2014
Strong research mentorship has been linked to improved mentee self-efficacy, productivity, and ultimately career satisfaction. Unfortunately, mentors usually learn their craft by doing what their mentors did, or by trial and error.
New Website Launched for WCER’s i3 Family Engagement Project in Philadelphia
October 1, 2014
WCER’s PhillyFASTi3 project, funded by a $15 million U.S. Department of Education Investing in Innovation (i3) grant, has launched a new website to inform parents and educators about the Families and Schools Together (FAST) program targeting 60 Philadelphia elementary schools.
Indiana Becomes 36th State to Join WIDA Consortium
September 24, 2014
The WIDA Consortium is now 36 states strong after the Indiana Department of Education moved to implement WIDA’s English Language Development Standards and Assessments statewide starting this school year.
Hora Enters National Academies of Science Debate
September 5, 2014
A letter to the editor by WCER researcher Matthew T. Hora appears in the current issue of the prestigious journal, Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences (PNAS).
VARC, CPRE Contribute to Research in Urban Education Policy Initiative Brief
September 4, 2014
A new policy brief published by the Research on Urban Policy Initiative (RUEPI) explores the expanded role of principals in newly implemented teacher evaluation systems across the country.
Measuring Coherence in Teacher Knowledge
September 2, 2014
What does it mean for teachers to have coherent understanding of their subject?
It’s Time to Document Teaching Styles More Carefully
September 2, 2014
Discussions of college classroom teaching styles often categorize them as either “lecture” or “interactive.” But those terms do not reflect the realities of classroom practice.
Self-Affirmation Exercises Found To Boost Some Achievement
July 30, 2014
Self-affirmation writing exercises improved the achievement, especially in mathematics, of students who may suffer from stereotype threat.
WIDA Goes Global with Summer Academy for International Schools
July 30, 2014
From Afghanistan to Zambia, international schools are reconsidering their approach to teaching English language learners, and many are looking to tap into WIDA’s expertise.
Afterschool Program Reduces Mobility Among Some Families
July 1, 2014
An afterschool program for children and families was found to substantially reduce the school mobility of Black students who otherwise were especially likely to change schools. Improved relationships among families help explain this finding.
Quantifying Uncertainty: David Kaplan Explains the Usefulness of Bayesian Statistics
June 23, 2014
To most academics, and even many statisticians, the world of Bayesian statistics remains a dark and dangerous realm, rarely visited and greatly feared.
Department Chairs Become Instructional Leaders
June 2, 2014
Distributed throughout a high school, department chairs are ideally positioned to help increase student learning, and yet they receive little or no formal training, and there is no universally accepted job description.
Tackling Racial Disparities in School Discipline
May 22, 2014
MSAN hosted its 2014 Institute on April 14 and 15 in Madison, attracting hundreds of educators from public school districts
