News from WCER
Parents’ Expectations for Children with Disabilities
November 18, 2013
UW–Madison education professor Bonnie Doren finds that parents’ expectations for their children with disabilities varies by family income and by the adolescent’s particular disability.
Parents’ Expectations and Student Achievement
November 11, 2013
UW-Madison education professor Bonnie Doren examines the relationship between parent expectations for their adolescents with disabilities, and the adolescents’ achievement of important school and post-school benchmarks
Hora, Oleson Study Data Driven Decision-Making in STEM Departments
November 5, 2013
WCER researchers Matt Hora and Amanda Oleson have co-authored three new research reports spelling out recommendations to STEM faculty and administrators on the use of data for improving curriculum and instruction.
Talent Management in Education
October 31, 2013
Educators and policymakers across the United States want to place effective teachers into all classrooms and effective principals into all schools.
Increasing Student Success in STEM Fields
October 28, 2013
The Federal government’s STEP program supports grassroots efforts to increase the number of students who enter and complete degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.
Reforming Income-Based Loan Programs
October 22, 2013
The costs of higher education present students with a major hurdle to enrolling and completing a college degree.
FAST Program Reduces African American Student Mobility
October 18, 2013
The Families and Schools Together (FAST) program has been shown to reduce the number of students who change schools for reasons other than grade promotion
Focusing on the Science in Science Explanations
October 7, 2013
To make science education reform a reality, we would benefit from a clearer vision of what scientific explanation really is, and does.
Grade Inflation? Probably Not
October 1, 2013
Grodsky challenges the definition of grade inflation as merely "increases in grade point average." He emphasizes the larger "signaling power" of grades.
“Learning English” vs Academic Success
September 30, 2013
For years we've heard debates about whether teachers should use bilingual or English-Only instruction when teaching English Language Learners (ELLs).
2013 MSAN Student Conference Seeks to Give Students “Courage to Act”
September 25, 2013
Hundreds of high school students from across the country are convening in Amherst, Mass. from Sept. 25-28 for the 2013 Minority Student Achievement Network Student Conference, a gathering designed to develop student leaders dedicated to closing academic achievement gaps in the nation’s schools.
Long-time WCER Researcher Nystrand Returns for One More CLASS
September 24, 2013
Martin Nystrand first came to WCER in 1984, when he brought his expertise in dialogic organization of discourse into a multi-pronged, multi-disciplinary study of classroom conversations between students and teachers. Now, almost 30 years later, Nystrand has come out of retirement to work on a project that will create a technological tool that will make data collection inside classrooms cheaper and easier for the next generation of education researchers.
Recreational Computer Use Can Benefit Students
September 23, 2013
UW-Madison education professor Matthew Berland says that using computers for fun and video gaming is associated with positive effects on high school students' reading and mathematics achievement test scores.
Meyer, Jackson to Serve on Panels in Washington, DC
September 20, 2013
Wisconsin Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB) director Dr. Jerlando F. L. Jackson and executive director of the Value-Added Research Center (VARC) Rob Meyer will be featured panelists at two separate conferences in Washington DC in the coming days.
Larger Ethnic Diversity Can Benefit Students
September 16, 2013
High schools that have large, rather than small or moderate, amounts of ethnic diversity can have positive effects on students' peer experiences.


