News from WCER

What Matters in Mentoring

April 11, 2011

It has always been important for young people to have mentors. Some mentors guide us through our personal lives; others help prepare us for our careers.


April Conference to Address Achievement Gap

March 28, 2011

The Minority Student Achievement Association is coordinating a conference for Detroit-area educators to discuss building school-community relationships, strategies for parental engagement, and models for community partnerships.


VARC Research Presented at This Week’s AEFP Conference

March 21, 2011

This week researchers from WCER’s Value-Added Research Center will present at the annual meeting of the Association for Education Finance and Policy.


Teachers’ Changing Beliefs about Engineering Learning and Instruction

March 15, 2011

More K-12 educators are participating in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) professional development activities.


Teaching Assessment for Teacher Human Capital Management

March 14, 2011

A new Working Paper compares seven prominent systems for assessing teaching practice.


Increasing Community College Student Success

March 7, 2011

Educators often attribute poor completion rates in community colleges to numerous ‘deficiencies’ that students bring with them.


Applying Insights from Faculty Teaching Practices

February 28, 2011

Policymakers and educators engaged in pedagogical reform in math and science seek to better understand teaching practices in colleges and universities.


Educational Games for Personalized Medicine

February 21, 2011

Personalized medicine, particularly in the area of diabetes education, benefit from games and simulations.


Reclaiming Assessment

February 15, 2011

Effective assessment practices are more likely to take place in schools with higher achievement.


Bolstering Achievement at Minority Serving Institutions

February 14, 2011

Clifton Conrad and colleague Marybeth Gasman study “models of success” that help students finish their degrees at minority-serving institutions.


Value-Added Measures in Education: What Every Educator Needs to Know

February 7, 2011

In a newly published book, Douglas Harris sets out to help educators and policy makers understand the complex subject of value-added measurement.


Managing the Human Resource System in Schools

January 31, 2011

A new book by Allan Odden offers a comprehensive and strategic approach to address what is known as "talent and human capital."


Evaluating Literacy Instruction in Milwaukee

January 24, 2011

Staff from the Value-Added Research Center are evaluating The Milwaukee Community Literacy Project (MCLP).


Comparing Adequacy Across 50 States

January 15, 2011

Until now, no one has tried to estimate the costs of educational adequacy across all 50 states using a common method applied in a consistent manner. UW-Madison education professor Allan Odden and colleagues have realized that goal.


Research Into Practice

January 10, 2011

WCER researcher Susan Millar works to harness the power of computer games to help diabetes patients better manage their illness.