Take advantage of this great new opportunity! Choose an interesting book to read and visit the Upton Campus for and evening of delicious food and lively conversation lead by a School of Education faculty author.

Interested in joining? Send us your book choices and your contact information by November 20. In December, we will let you know which book the club selected as well as the date, the time and location of our March gathering. See you then.

Please email to Susan Palmer, Director for Outreach and Extended Learning, spalmer@uamail.albany.edu

Choice Words: How Our Language Affects Children’s Learning
By Professor Peter Johnston, Dept. of Reading
(Stenhouse Publishers, 120 pages)

In productive classrooms, teachers don’t just teach children skills: they build emotionally and relationally healthy learning communities. Teachers create intellectual environments that produce not only technically competent students, but also caring, secure, actively literate human beings. Choice Words shows how teachers accomplish this using their most powerful teaching tool: language. Johnston provides examples of apparently ordinary words, phrases and uses of language that are pivotal in the orchestration of the classroom, and demonstrates how the things we say (and don’t say) have surprising consequences for what children learn and for who they become as literate people.

“I wish I had written this book. Actually, I wish I’d been able to write it. I am truly grateful for Choice Words, and I wish there was a way to ensure that every teacher, teacher educator, school administrator, and researcher would read it.”
– From the Foreword by Richard Allington, University of Tennessee

Critical Literacy/Critical Teaching: Tools for Preparing Responsive Teachers
Co-authored by Assistant Professor Cheryl Dozier and Professor Peter Johnston, Dept. of Reading
(Teacher’s College Press, 225 pages)

This book describes and documents an exciting new approach to educating literacy teachers. The authors show how to help teachers develop their own critical literacy, while also preparing them to accelerate the literacy learning of struggling readers. The text takes readers inside a literacy lab in a high-poverty urban elementary school, reveals the instructional approach in action, and provides excellent examples of critically responsive teaching. The book illustrates teacher preparation and development as personal and social transformation; provides pedagogical tools and combines critical and accelerative literacy instruction.

“Marcus, a child who became a reader through his participation in the University at Albany Literacy Lab, could barely contain his enthusiasm. ‘Grandma, you got time? Papa, you got time? I want to read to you.’ That’s the way I felt when I read this book – I keep grabbing colleagues in schools and my department and saying, ‘Have you got time? I want to tell you about this great book I just read.’”
– From the Foreword by JoBeth Allen

Getting to Excellent: How to Create Better Schools
By Distinguished Professor Judith Langer, Dept. of Educational Theory & Practice
(Teacher’s College Press, 144 pages)

Getting to Excellent is for everyone – educators, parents, civic leaders – who want students to think sharply, like learning, and have the high literacy skills that will open the path to success in school, work, and life. Using data from her groundbreaking study of diverse middle and high schools, Judith Langer shows us what makes the difference between highly effective schools and typical, business-as-usual schools.

“Finally, someone has written a book on standards and bringing excellence to schools that makes sense! Judith Langer has crafted a book that will be helpful to teachers and school leaders in making a successful journey towards excellence. It is practical, readable, and useful.”
– Paul D. Houston, Executive Director, American Association of School Administrators

 

(August 25, 2006) -- The National Center for Educational Accountability (NCEA) Executive Summary of the 2005 Just for the Kids (JFTK) Best Practice Studies and Institutes names 10 NYS schools as among the best in the nation. The summary, based on case studies prepared by JFTK-New York at the School of Education, allows schools in need of improvement nationwide to gain direct and practical insight from their experiences.

“Preparing today’s elementary and secondary school children for success as tomorrow’s college students, and as future leaders of America, is vitally important to our nation’s continuing prosperity,” said State University of New York Chancellor John. R. Ryan. “We support Just for the Kids New York’s commitment to improving education through identifying and disseminating best practices from our most successful schools throughout our great state as effective and cost efficient.”

Since 2001, NCEA as national sponsor of JFTK, has been focused on finding and sharing excellence in educational practices through the study of consistently higher performing schools in partnership with state-based research and education organizations. The goal of this study was to reaffirm that high academic achievement for all students is possible, and to examine the principles and practices that lead to success. A team of UAlbany researchers in the School of Education spoke with district leaders, principals, and teachers at schools in New York that have been more successful at raising student achievement and reaching higher standards than others, and examined the practices of educators in those schools to determine what they’re doing and how their practices could help other schools.

“In 2006-07, we’ll be extending the project to study middle schools across the state to identify practices and programs that distinguish those that are higher performing,” said Dean of the School of Education Susan Phillips. “We are grateful to Governor George E. Pataki and SUNY Chancellor John R. Ryan for their support of this research.”

Following are the top ten New York public elementary schools that were featured:

Charles A. Upson Elementary, Lockport City School District
George M. Davis Elementary, New Rochelle City School District
Gotham Avenue Elementary, Elmont Union Free School District
Lawrence Avenue Elementary, Potsdam Central School District
Mannsville Manor Elementary, South Jefferson Central School District
Naples Elementary, Naples Central School District
Smallwood Drive Elementary, Amherst Central School District
Traphagen Elementary, Mount Vernon City School District
Ulysses Byas Elementary, Roosevelt Union Free School District
Webster Elementary, Syracuse City School District

JFTK Best Practice Studies and Institutes cover specific strategies being used to build leadership capacity, offer intervention to students, make research-based selections of instructional programs, and much more. In addition to highlighting individual state best practices, comprehensive studies for schools with diverse demographics are organized around an interactive JFTK Framework of Best Practices along with tools that allow schools and districts to conduct self audits to see how their current practices align with The Framework.

The structure of the JFTK Best Practice Framework is used to examine the successful practices of higher performing schools in each state. Though not a theoretical creation, The Framework is based on the study of nearly 500 schools and systems across the nation and only includes the activities and practices that distinguish higher performing schools from average performing schools. Quality instruction is supported systemically by district and school practices, as well as by those in the classroom, remaining cognizant of the fact that the big picture helps us make sense of individual pieces.

“Interconnectedness of practices is critical in The Framework,” said JFTK-New York Project Director Janet Angelis of the Albany Institute for Research in Education. “However, these programs and practices are presented as examples of what is working in some school systems, and should not be interpreted as a prescriptive list of programs or strategies.”

The 2005 JFTK-New York Best Practice Study was made possible in part through national funding from The Broad Foundation and NCEA, as well as with local support from AT&T, IBM, State Farm Insurance, University at Albany School of Education, SUNY, The Business Council of New York State, and the New York State Education Department. In addition, Governor Pataki, working with SUNY Chancellor Ryan, has targeted $350,000 to support the project.

“This Report turns research into action to improve student achievement,” said The Business Council of New York State President Dan Walsh. “We were proud to support this important study and value the significant work of NCEA, Just for the Kids, University at Albany, and The Broad Foundation. It is an essential tool for educators who are serious about school improvement.”

For more information on Just for the Kids NY visit www.Just4kids.org/NY. To view the Executive Summary of the NY Elementary School Best Practice Study visit http://www.just4kids.org/bestpractice/files/state/
new%20york/NY_Executive_Summary.pdf

Dr. Kevin Kinser

Kevin Kinser, Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Administration and Policy Studies, has received a $45,000 grant from the Sloan Foundation for research that will create some of the first-ever informational tools to provide the basis for future research on noncredit education. In his study, Sources of Data for Noncredit Postsecondary Education, Kinser will interview data experts and survey a range of organizations involved in alternative educational programs. These programs, such as continuing education programs, work-related training, and credentialing in many trade and technical fields, are offered not only by traditional colleges and universities, but also by for-profit providers, business firms, professional associations, and non-profit community groups.

Professor Donna Scanlon, in the Department of Reading and Associate Director of the Child Research and Study Center, and School of Education colleagues Lynn Gelzheiser, Frank Vellutino, and Virginia Goatley have received funding from the Institute of Education Science of the U.S. Department of Education for a project entitled Enhancing Pre-Service Teachers’ Knowledge Related to Research-Based Early Literacy Instruction. This three year, $1.44 million grant, will involve collaboration with teacher educators at a variety of colleges and universities to develop and evaluate materials to be used in pre-service language arts methods classes. The ultimate goal of the project is to provide teacher educators with resources to help new teachers understand scientifically-based reading instruction, early literacy development, as well as understand and effectively respond to the difficulties some children have in learning to read and write.

Associate Professor Gilbert Valverde, in the Department of Educational Administration and Policy Studies, has been selected as a Fulbright Senior Specialist for a period of five years. The Fulbright Senior Specialists Program is administered by the J. William Fulbright Scholarship Board, the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Department of State and the Council for International Exchange of Scholars. The Senior Specialist Program differs from the traditional Fulbright Scholar competition in that the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) builds a roster of specialists in a variety of disciplines. Individuals recommended by specialist peer review committees and approved by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board become candidates for special Fulbright Senior Specialist projects. The intent of this program is to foster international scholarly exchanges by matching senior expertise to requests for such expertise made to the local Fulbright Committees of participating countries. Professor Valverde has already been “matched,” receiving a Senior Specialist’s Grant for work on a project with the Catholic University of Uruguay.

Professor Istvan Kecskes, in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice, was invited to present at two international linguistics conferences taking place in Australia during July 2006. Dr. Kecskes first presented a colloquium on Bilingual Pragmatics at the 2006 Pacific Second Language Research Forum at the University of Queensland, in Brisbane. The forum was sponsored by the University of Queensland and Griffith University. Then Kecskes conducted a week-long intensive course on the cognitive aspects of bilingualism at the 2006 Australian Linguistics Institute (ALI), also at the University of Queensland. The ALI is sponsored by the top-ranked Australian Linguistics Society and offers master classes lead by invited experts in the field of linguistics.

Dr. Jean Healey is a lecturer and academic coordinator of professional experience for the Special Education Program at the University of Western Sydney, Australia . She teaches the behavior management units and mandatory special education inclusion unit. She has previous experience as a special education teacher teaching in schools and classes for children with behavior and emotional disturbances and in juvenile detention facilities.

She currently works with schools to devise a comprehensive approach to interventions for bullying. She has particular expertise in the Macarthur approach or the Peer Advocacy program which is still under development, but which is clearly structured. She has also explored bullying from the child protection perspective, a view which is controversial but is gaining ground in Australia  as a legitimate consideration.

For more information, please contact Jennifer Hogan at jhogan@uamail.albany.edu or 442-4828.
For directions to campus, please visit http://www.albany.edu/about_the_university/
visit_us/directions_car.html#uptown

For a map of campus, please visit http://www.albany.edu/maps/uptownmap.html
Parking will be available in the Podium West Lot.

Co-sponsored by the School of Education, The Division of School Psychology, The University at Albany Chapter of Phi Delta Kappa, and The Capital Area School Development Association.

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The National Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) granted accreditation to the graduate teacher preparation programs at the University at Albany School of Education. TEAC accreditation signifies that the graduate programs in literacy, teaching English to speakers of other languages; and in elementary, secondary, and special education meet rigorous national quality standards.

“This new accreditation is a very special achievement; one that our faculty has been working toward for a number of years,” said Susan D. Phillips, dean of the school of education. “I am very proud of their outstanding efforts and honored to report that the accreditation process was highly complimentary of our work in teacher preparation.”

The TEAC review process includes a thorough site visit and audit that verifies the accuracy of the evidence that student learning meets high expectations, and that the program is following processes that produce quality. The quality of the evidence, and the quality of the system that produced it, are key factors in achieving TEAC’s approval. Faculty across the School of Education and the College of Arts and Sciences worked to create an outstanding set of degree programs and a system of student assessment and program data analysis, assembling all components into a self-study to achieve accreditation.

TEAC is a nonprofit organization, recognized by both the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, and dedicated to improving academic degree programs for professional educators—those who will teach and lead in schools, pre-kindergarten through grade 12. Its primary mission is accrediting undergraduate and graduate professional education programs in order to assure the public about the quality of college and university programs.

About The School of Education

The School of Education at the University at Albany is the oldest public school of education in New York . It is the second largest school at the University at Albany and proudly ranked among the very best graduate schools of education in the nation.The School is comprised of four academic departments and is home to 2,800 graduate and undergraduate students, served by 160 full- and part-time faculty, all recognized as outstanding in their fields. Students pursue doctoral, masters and graduate certificate programs areas of study such as educational leadership and policy, educational technology, literacy, elementary, secondary and special education, and counseling, school, and educational psychology.

As an active participant in many innovative partnerships, the School of Education is embedded in and engaged with the communities of the Capital Region and across New York , including the Capital Area School Development Association , and the Northeast Partnership for Literacy. The School is also the New York State affiliate of the national web-based project Just for the Kids.

The School if Education is the home of literacy research and instruction in the nation and house several large-scale nationally funded research projects on literacy, including the Center on English Learning & Achievement, the Child Research Study Cente r , and the Capital District Chapter of the National Writing Project. The School is also a leader in mathematics and science education, including the National Science Foundation studies of equity in mathematics education, and leadership on the New York State Math Education panel. It recently joined IBM’s Transition to Teaching initiative to help fill the nation wide need for qualified math and science teachers.

Peter H. Johnston

Department of Reading Professor Peter H. Johnston was inducted to the Reading Hall of Fame at the International Reading Association’s 2006 Annual Conference. The Reading Hall of Fame is an independent organization comprising national and international leaders who have made contributions to the field of reading and literacy. Inductees are elected to this elite membership by their peers. Johnston joins three other School of Education colleagues who were previously inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame – Leading Professor Arthur Applebee and Distinguished Professor Judith Langer, both in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice, and Professor Rose Marie Weber in the Department of Reading.

Peter Johnston earned his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. He has worked as an elementary classroom teacher and as a reading teacher, and he currently serves on the editorial boards of: Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Literacy Research, Elementary School Journal, and Literacy, Teaching and Learning. He has published eight books and numerous articles in journals such as Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Literacy Research, Elementary School Journal, Reading Teacher, Harvard Educational Review, Teachers College Record, Journal of Educational Psychology, Contemporary Educational Psychology, Educational Psychologist, and Theory into Practice. His most recent books are Choice Words: How Our Language Affects Children’s Learning (2004, Stenhouse), Critical literacy/critical teaching: Tools for preparing responsive teachers (Teachers College Press, with Cheryl Dozier, Asst. Prof, Dept of Reading & alumna Rebecca Rogers), Reading to Learn: Lessons from exemplary fourth grade classrooms (2002, Guilford, with Richard Allington), and Running records: a self-tutoring guide (2000, Stenhouse), Knowing literacy (1997, Stenhouse).

Johnston chaired the International Reading Association and National Council of Teachers of English Joint Task Force on Assessment that produced the position monograph Standards for the assessment of reading and writing. The International Reading Association awarded him the Outstanding Dissertation award in 1981, and in 1987 the Albert J. Harris Award for his contribution to the understanding of reading disability. In 1996, the Educational Press Association recognized one of his articles as the Outstanding Learned Article. His current work investigates literacy assessment, the consequences of teaching practices for the kind of literacy children acquire, how teachers and students build productive learning communities, and the process of building critical inquiry into literacy teacher education.

Amanda Nickerson

( May 19, 2006 ) – The School of Education ’s Assistant Professor in School Psychology Amanda B. Nickerson and her team were awarded a 2005-2006 National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) Presidential Award for developing one of the first models of crisis intervention explicitly for providers who work in the school setting with children.

The NASP Presidential Award is presented to a highly select group of individuals who have made a significant contribution to the profession, to NASP, and to the specific goals set forth by the president that year. Team member Ted Feinberg, assistant executive director of NASP and 1997 School of Education Alum , was also honored with the NASP Presidential Award.

“We have been committed to developing a standardized, research-based, crisis-prevention and intervention curriculum for school-based, mental health professionals to meet the unique needs of children in schools,” said Nickerson “It has been exciting to see the hard work of our group come to fruition, and I’m honored to be recognized with this award, because it reflects the NASP’s support of this important effort.”

The team developed “PREPARE,” the NASP school crisis prevention and intervention training curriculum, created to give school-based mental health professionals guidance on how to best fill the roles and responsibilities generated by their membership on school crisis teams. The training curriculum includes a one-day workshop (Prevention and Preparedness – The Comprehensive School Crisis Team) designed to provide a broad overview of the school crisis team’s roles and responsibilities, with an emphasis on crisis prevention and preparedness, and a two-day workshop (Crisis Intervention and Recovery – The Roles of School-Based Mental Health Professionals) designed to provide a specific examination of the school-based mental health professionals’ role and responsibilities, with an emphasis on crisis intervention and recovery.

Amanda Nickerson, a Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP) joined UAlbany in September 2002 where she teaches courses in social, emotional, and behavioral assessment, psychotherapy with children, a research seminar, and an interdisciplinary course on Emergency Preparedness in Schools. She earned her bachelor’s in psychology, cum laude, from Bates College and both her master’s and doctorate in school psychology from the University of South Carolina , where she earned the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Study and the Outstanding Graduate Work in Research Award. Nickerson has published more than 20 journal articles and book chapters and has conducted numerous local, state, and national presentations. She is also a member of the Advisory Committee on Campus Security at the University at Albany .

The School of Education’s Ph.D. Program in Counseling Psychology has passed its re-accreditation review and received the maximum 7 year accreditation from the American Psychological Association. This achievement marks a continuous record of program excellence since its first accreditation in 1980. The Counseling Psychology Ph.D. is one of three doctoral programs in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology. In addition to its exemplary record of accreditation, its faculty also have the distinction of being consistently ranked in the top 5 in the nation on such indicators as faculty publication productivity over the past 20 years.

For more information: http://www.albany.edu/counseling_psych/doc/index.html

School of Education Professors Engage Middle School Students in High-Level Literacy Skills

Judith Langer

Improving middle school reading performance for all students may require building instructional capacity, note Distinguished Judith A. Langer and Leading Professor Arthur N. Applebee, both fro the Department of Educational Theory and Practice. Building on the work of the Center on English Learning & Achievement, Langer

Arthur Applebee

and Applebee have been involved in a two-year study assessing the impact of professional development on curriculum, instruction, and student achievement. Known as the Partnership for Literacy, the intervention provides teachers with a framework for thinking about how to increase students’ literacy skills, plus specific curriculum and instruction approaches associated with higher achievement.

The Partnership study involved 21 urban schools in high poverty neighborhoods, 69 classroom teachers, eight support teachers, and 119 classes in two states, New York and Wisconsin. Through it, teachers were encouraged to change how they taught so that students would be more likely to become cognitively engaged in challenging subject matter. The professional development focuses on five components that make a difference in student learning and achievement: strategic curriculum; knowledge from discourse and thought-in-action; thinking and learning in a social context; coherence, connections, and continuity; and generative learning.

Initial analysis indicates that this approach to professional development does result in classrooms where students, including low achievers who typically zone out, are more cognitively engaged. Soon after involvement in the Partnership, teachers changed how they taught, increasing both the time spent in instruction and the extent to which they built on student responses during instruction. Other teaching practices changed more slowly as practice evolved over the course of the two-year study. Some aspects of teachers’ beliefs and attitudes changed as well, although there was little movement on the key issue of whether all students are capable of learning. But learn they did. Although the study design meant that most students would have only one year of instruction in a cognitively engaged environment, a comparison of fall and spring measures of reading comprehension showed significant gains.

To learn more about the Partnership for Literacy and the Center for English Learning & Achievement, please visit http://cela.albany.edu/services.htm.

The School of Education is proud of its long history of preparing highly qualified international students and scholars from all around the globe to become leaders who facilitate educational reform in their native countries and around the world. Over the years, the School has hosted numerous visiting scholars and students through a number of different funding sources. This academic year, however, the School is pleased to host a remarkably large number of visiting scholars: two Fulbright New Century Scholars and four Fulbright Students. All are housed in the Department of Educational Administration and Policy Studies (EAPS).

The Fulbright exchange programs are named after Senator William J. Fulbright who, shortly after World War II, successfully introduced a bill that called for the use of proceeds from the sale of surplus war property to fund the “promotion of international good will through the exchange of students in the fields of education, culture, and science.” Fulbright grants are awarded to citizens of the U.S. and the 140 other countries that participate in the Fulbright program for a variety of educational activities, primarily university lecturing, advanced research, and graduate study. Close to 1,000 U.S. citizens receive grants each year to study overseas and about 3,000 non-U.S. nationals are currently in this country on a Fulbright grant. Academics and professionals participate in the exchange by conducting research and teaching as Fulbright Scholars. The Fulbright program supports students by funding their studies at universities abroad.

The Fulbright New Century Scholars Program seeks to take advantage of the synergy created when scholars from vastly different spheres focus on a single issue of concern to people worldwide. This year 31 scholars are examining the topic Higher Education in the 21st Century: Global Challenge and National Response. New Century Scholars Pablo Landoni, from Catholic University of Uruguay, and Pedro Teixeira, from the University of Porto in Portugal, are here to collaborate with Distinguished Professor Daniel Levy who has been instrumental in developing EAPS’ international profile in the field. Levy is the director of the Program for Research On Private Higher Education (PROPHE), a global research network dedicated to building knowledge about all facets of private higher education, an excellent venue for Landoni and Teixeira to conduct their research.

There are also four Fulbright Students pursuing degrees in the Department. These students have undergone a long and competitive process to obtain the Fulbright scholarship. They have exhibited academic excellence, prior experience that relates to their future goals, clear and pertinent research interests, and leadership skills that will aid them in successfully contributing to educational reform in their countries.

Ancell Scheker, a first-year Ph.D. student studying Education Policy, is from the Dominican Republic. Scheker has worked within the educational system of her country for seven years. “I studied to be an educator not an administrator and I felt like I needed to increase my leadership skills. Perhaps most importantly, I felt I needed time away to reflect so that I could return with a different perspective to contribute to the educational reform in my country,” said Scheker. Her goal is to create more and equal educational opportunities for all in the Dominican Republic. “Education is a key component to a country’s social and economic development. With quality education, more students will be able to achieve their full potential.”

Layheng Ting is a second-year MS student from Cambodia. Before beginning her studies here, she worked at the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP). She is studying finance and organization of higher education in hopes of devising a better financial system for RUPP and the Cambodian higher education system as a whole.

Before joining the M.S. program, Caly Setiawan taught physical education tudies Yogyakarta State University in his native country, Indonesia. Caly is the first person from Indonesia with a background in physical education to be awarded a Fulbright scholarship. “Scholarly attention is usually given to the biomechanical aspects of physical education in Indonesia. There is little attention given to the sociological aspect of the field such as policy which involves duties such as devising a standard curriculum,” said Caly. “I came to the University at Albany because I want to understand educational policy.”

Gonzalo Zapata is a Chilean Ph.D. student. In Chile, he was at the Higher Council for Education and the National Commission for Higher Education. He is interested in quality and accountability in higher education, especially from a public policy and comparative perspective.

Just as the Fulbright Students were competitively selected from a pool of applicants, EAPS was competitively selected by the Fulbright Students who actively sought out institutions that could meet their academic and professional interests.

For example, EAPS became Ancell Scheker’s top choice after she learned about the department’s current research. She was particularly interested in the research of Gilbert Valverde, Associate Professor and Program Director of the Educational Evaluation Research Consortium (EERC). The EERC is conducting a study of the educational opportunities provided in primary education in the Dominican Republic to understand the impact of those opportunities on learning Mathematics and Reading Comprehension from 4th to 7th grade. “My department is one of the few places,” said Valverde, “that has made educational administration and policy studies from a cross-national global prospective its primary focus”.

The department is honored to be a sought after destination of visiting Fulbrights and looks forward to long-lasting relationships and exchanges with those who study with them. “The awards are competitive. The department’s faculty members are of course pleased to be seen as an appropriate destination where these students can acquire the depth of knowledge, perspective and skills that will be useful when they return to their home countries,” said Department Chair Alan Wagner.

Building Literacy Through Classroom Discussion By Mary Adler and Eija Rougle Center on English Learning and Achievement (Scholastic, 2005) This book shows middle school English teachers how to facilitate discussions where students share rich, defensible interpretations of literature and solid, reasoned understandings of any concepts under study. Based on the authors’ research as facilitators for the Partnership for Literacy, a school-university collaboration, it describes why discussion-based instruction is crucial to achievement and then shows teachers how to introduce and sustain discussions. Critical Literacy/Critical Teaching: Tools for Preparing Responsive Teachers By Cheryl Dozier, Peter Johnston and alumna Rebecca Rogers Department of Reading (Teacher’s College Press, 2005) This book describes and documents an exciting new approach to educating literacy teachers. The authors show how to help teachers develop their own critical literacy, while also preparing them to accelerate the literacy learning of struggling readers. The text takes readers inside a literacy lab in a high-poverty urban elementary school, reveals the instructional approach in action, and provides many examples of critically responsive teaching. The book illustrates teacher preparation and development as personal and social transformation, provides pedagogical tools, and combines critical and accelerative literacy instruction. Therapeutic Alliances in Couple and Family Therapy: An Empirically Informed Guide to Practice Co-authored by Myrna L. Friedlander Division of Counseling Psychology (APA Books, 2006) This book demonstrates the crucial importance of healthy working relationships with clients in couple and family therapy. The authors’ conceptual model (System for Observing Family Therapy Alliances, or SOFTA) integrates theory, research, and practice related to the alliance in couple and family therapy. The authors demonstrate how to gather evidence about working alliances by tracking specific positive and negative behaviors in therapy sessions, including clients’ as well as therapists’ behavioral contributions to the alliance. The book is rich in clinical case examples illustrating each SOFTA dimension with culturally diverse couples and families. Learn to Study: A Comprehensive Guide to Academic Success By Marcella Marino Craver, Alumna Division of School Psychology (The Graduate Group) This unique book is based on over six years of the trial and error application of learning theory and technique. The book walks students (5th grade to college) through the study process from how to take notes and combat test anxiety to how to learn – not memorize – information. Current research is included to provide a comprehensive, up-to-date guide to studying. Is Your Child Depressed? By Nathan Naparstek, Alumnus Division of Educational Psychology & Methodology (McGraw Hill, 2006) Is Your Child Depressed? provides a thorough, up-to-date guide to help you identify and understand childhood depression. This compassionate guide confronts such controversial topics as medications in very young children and adolescents and offers practical strategies for finding the right professional, disciplining a depressed child, and how to help your whole family get through the challenges of having a family member with serious depression. Mosquito Bite By Alexandra Siy, Alumna Department of Educational Theory & Practice (Charlesbridge Publishing, 2005) As children play hide-and-seek on a hot summer night, a mosquito, Culex, hides and seeks as well. She must find food-blood to nourish the eggs in her body. Black-and-white photos relate the children’s hide-and-seek story line, while astonishing colorized photographs taken with an electron microscope give close-up views of Culex and her world. Junior Library Guild Selection. Methods in Educational Research: From Theory to Practice By Dean Spaulding, Alumnus Division of Educational Psychology & Methodology (Jossey-Bass, 2006) Designed for the real world of educational research, the book’s approach focuses on the types of problems likely to be encountered in professional experiences. Reflecting the importance of The No Child Left Behind Act, “scientifically based” educational research, school accountability, and the professional demands of the twenty-first century, Methods in Educational Research empowers readers to take an active role in conducting research in their classrooms, districts, and the greater educational community—activities that are now not only expected but required of all teachers. Getting Ahead: Fundamentals of College Reading By JoAnn Yaworski, Alumna Department of Reading (Longman, 2006) Getting Ahead is the first (6th-9th grade) of a two-book reading series. It discusses the basic skills and strategies required for the simple comprehension of a written piece, coupled with an introduction to critical thinking and reading. Special attention is given to building vocabulary skills and study strategies. Getting Ahead builds students’ motivation – about themselves, their life situation, and their academic situation – in order to excel in both their academic and professional careers. Reading Between the Lines: Advanced College Reading Skills By JoAnn Yaworski, Alumna Department of Reading (Longman, 2006) Reading Between the Lines is the second of the two-book series. It teaches developing readers how to identify the “other story” behind both academic and professional texts, to dig beyond the literal, to think critically, to understand the varied levels of meaning in a line, and to create informed opinions about modern issues affecting our daily lives.

Call for SOE Scholarship Applications

School of Education and State Education Department Host Destination Diploma III: The Journey To Adolescent Literacy

The School of Education and the New York State Education Department jointly sponsored the Destination Diploma III forum on literacy at the middle and high school levels. The forum was held December 12 & 13 at the UAlbany campus. The forum brought together over 400 educators and stakeholders from 23 large and small city school districts, schools and their partners to determine how to improve graduation rates through an increased focus on literacy.

"This forum brings together the best minds and best intentions for the future of our young people," said University at Albany President Kermit L. Hall. "Literacy and future opportunity are inextricably linked, and it is collaborations such as this one between the Education Department and the University that solidify our goal to bring these students to successful graduation and beyond."

"It was a privilege to collaborate with our colleagues and neighbors at the State Education Department and researchers across the country on the important initiative of strengthening adolescent literacy," said School of Education Dean Susan D. Phillips . "The School of Education faculty and research centers offer a great deal of field research and knowledge on successful and effective practices for literacy development."

Several School of Education faculty, researchers and facilitators presented workshops at the forum. To name just a few:

Eija Rougle, a researcher and facilitator for the Center for English Learning and Achievement’s (CELA) school literacy program Partnership for Literacy, spoke on Changing Low Achievers’ Definitions of Themselves as Learners.

Johanna Shogan, another CELA facilitator, presented on Strategies to Strengthen Urban Middle School Students’ Text Comprehension.

Lynn Gelzheiser, Associate Professor in the Division of Special Education and researcher at the School’s Child Research Study Center, spoke on Using Trade Books to Enhance Literacy and Social Studies Knowledge.

Margaret Sheehy, Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Reading with several of her graduate students, presented a workshop on AIS (Academic Intervention Services) that Works: Using Literacy Specialists to Teaching Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum.

Laurie Wellman, Visiting Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Educational Theory and Practice and former ESL Specialist and Supervisor for the State Education Department, spoke on A (Not So) Extreme Makeover: Practical Advice for Teachers with Little or No Training in the Teaching of Students for Whom English is a New Language.

The primary outcomes from these two days of work will be more effective ways to get extra help to students who don't read adequately and who need added support and encouragement to succeed. "To compete in the global economy, young people today need literacy skills far more advanced than have been required of any previous generation," said State Education Commissioner Richard Mills. "Destination Diploma III is designed to increase high school graduation rates by bringing the latest in research and the best practice to the educators and students who need them most."

Keynote speakers at the forum included Alfred Tatum, assistant professor at Northern Illinois University and author of Teaching Reading to Black Adolescent Males: Closing the Achievement Gap; Judy L. Elliott, Assistant Superintendent of Special Education in the Long Beach Unified School District, the third largest urban school system in the state; and James McPartland a Johns Hopkins researcher in reform for large high schools that face serious problems with student attendance, discipline, achievement scores, and dropout rates.

Professor Wins Sloan Foundation Grant
to Study Online Teaching

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has awarded $45,000 to Peter Shea, assistant professor in the Department of Educational Theory and Practice in the School of Education , to pilot a study to identify what motivates college faculty to instruct online. The research project, called “What I Like about Teaching,” seeks to understand the reasons why faculty accept — or shun — online teaching and to create a framework for examining the issues at a national level.

According to Shea, former Director of SUNY's Online Learning Network (SLN), most online college courses today, including those in SLN, allow course takers to access the materials at their convenience rather than at a set time — the professor and students are not all on line at the same time. The networks are called asynchronous learning networks or ALNs, and some researchers estimate that 100,000 university faculty now teach one or more ALN courses, with more joining their ranks each year.

Susan D. Phillips, Ph.D., Dean of the School of Education , said, “This is a significant award to a junior faculty member from a very prestigious foundation. Sloan is known for its involvement with its grant recipients and for its support of cutting edge research. Congratulations to Dr. Shea and his collaborators at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.”

The School of Education and the Dept. of Education Theory and Practice (ETAP) have a long and active involvement with online teaching and the study of online education. ETAP, in 1997, was the first department in the SUNY system to offer online graduate classes and a master’s degree program through the SUNY Learning Network. Now, all four departments in the School of Education offer online classes each semester and the School offers two fully online master’s degree programs — the M.S. in Curriculum Development & Instructional Technology and the M.S. in Literacy: Childhood Education.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a philanthropic nonprofit institution, was established in 1934 by Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr., then president and chief executive officer of General Motors Corporation. The Sloan Foundation awards were established in 1955 as a means of encouraging research by young scholars at a critical time in their careers when other support is difficult to obtain. More information on the Sloan Foundation is found at http://www.sloan.org/.

School of Education Dean to Evaluate
Professional Psychology Preparation Programs

Susan D. Phillips, Dean of the School of Education , has been elected to serve on a national committee that determines the eligibility of institutions and programs to be designated as providing preparation in professional psychology. The committee is a joint project of the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards and the Council for the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology. Its purpose is to establish policy and conduct review processes that inform statutory and regulatory licensing and credentialing bodies across the United States and Canada about what programs meet the definition of professional psychology. The election of Dean Phillips to this committee follows her national service directing the accreditation of professional psychology programs through the American Psychological Association, and her current work in the quality assurance of the preparation of school personnel for the Regents of New York State. Her term begins January 2006.