Educator advocates for diversity in teaching
Advancing knowledge through learning and inquiry
Laura Dinehart was recently called on by the U.S. Department of Education to help identify ways to attract diverse students to the teaching profession. The executive director of the School of Education and Human Development says having diverse teachers is important for today’s children, who are growing up in an increasingly global environment. During the fall 2016 meeting in Washington D.C., Dinehart pointed out that all children benefit from teachers who are culturally, racially and linguistically diverse. Equally important is that children of color have the opportunity to learn from teachers who look like them. According to the National Education Association, 84 percent of teachers are white and more than 40 percent of public schools in the United States do not employ a single teacher of color. Dinehart advocated for more local and national collaborations among government agencies, schools and universities to increase diversity among America’s teachers. Laura Dinehart meets then-U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King, Jr.
$1 million NSF grant targets STEM students The National Science Foundation recently awarded FIU $1 million for student scholarships to increase the number of graduates in computer and information technology, an important area for the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) work force. Historically, STEM degrees take longer to finish than other majors. In some cases, students run out of financial aid before they are able to graduate. With this in mind, some of the scholarships are aimed at preventing students from being derailed by financial pressures as they near completion of their degrees. Professor Zahra Hazari of the STEM Transformation Institute and Department of Teaching and Learning helped secure the grant for FIU, saying the computer and information technology field already has high demand for qualified graduates that will only grow as technology continues to evolve.
Professor puts exams to the test A School of Education and Human Development researcher and his colleagues have created a tool that gauges whether an exam is properly designed. This tool could have far-reaching implications on teaching, according to Kyle Perkins, a professor of applied linguistics and teaching English to speakers of other languages. Perkins co-authored a study published in the Journal of Applied Measurement that studied the performance of students on identical exams. Researchers first gave college students a pre-test, had them attend multiple lectures and complete reading and homework assignments. Then students were asked to retake the original test. Perkins and his team dissected the exams. Their findings showed the pattern for which they were looking.