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Message from the Chair
My tenure at the School of Education (29 years!) is exceeded only by my enthusiasm for the faculty, staff, and students with whom I interact on a daily basis. For this reason, it is an honor to have been asked to assume leadership of the Educational Studies program. My thanks to Professor Pat Herbst for his three years as chair, the initiatives he championed, and his generous mentorship this past summer as I learned the ropes. There are exciting developments on so many fronts; it is difficult to select from among them, but I will sample a range in this newsletter. Recently, I was reminded how remarkable our community is while attending an event sponsored by the Peer Mentor Network (see pg. 4). At this event, five Educational Studies faculty presented two-minute overviews of their programs of scholarship followed by roundtable discussions in which 19 first- and second-year doctoral students shared emerging ideas regarding their areas of inquiry. The range—and importance—of interests was remarkable. For example, Darrius Robinson (Mathematics Education) is interested in how elementary students perceive mathematics education reforms. Mina Hernandez Garcia (Literacy, Language and Culture) is exploring language supports for newcomer English language learners in Social Studies/U. S. History inquiry learning. Hannah Mullman (Teaching and Teacher Education) is studying how cooperating teachers make sense of their roles as teacher educators. Amanda Ketner (Statistics) is examining the impact of an intervention in Boston Public Schools designed to increase the quality of the K-3 academics to address the fadeout from high quality preschool. Alex Honold (Learning Technology) is studying students’ ability to make connections between the past, present and future while engaging in historical inquiry. Claudine Margolis (Math Education) is interested in how visual representations help students build conceptual understanding of mathematics.
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The Educational Studies colloquium series for the 201819 academic year is focusing on citizenship and education in a time of shifting demographics. The speakers explore the experiences of (im)migration, parenting, schooling, and belonging within and across borders. We ask, how do schools shape and challenge young people’s civic knowledge, identities, and attitudes towards democracy? In October, Gabriele Oliveira, from Boston College, presented her ethnographic studies of mothers, recently published in Motherhood across Borders, examining the effects of maternal migration. Alumni and other friends of the Program are most welcome to attend. Each presentation begins at noon in the Tribute Room. Here is the line-up for the remaining presentations:. • Jan. 31st, Mariana Souto-Manning, Teacher’s College, will present on her community-based research examining inequities and injustices in early childhood teaching and teacher education. • Feb. 12th, Michelle Bellino, Educational Studies, University of Michigan, will share her multi-year youth participatory action research collaboration in Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp where she and her participants explored youth’s educational aspirations and sense of belonging while in exile. • March 15th, Maisha Winn, University of California Davis, will present the scholarship that is represented in her recent publication: Justice on Both Sides: Toward a Restorative Justice Discourse in Schools. • April 25th, Leslie Rupert Herrenkohl, Educational Studies, University of Michigan, will present her community-based research providing low income, immigrant, and refugee youth opportunities to develop interests, identities, and motivations to pursue further STEM learning.
Professor Annemarie Palincsar
In our monthly faculty meetings, faculty are meeting in professional learning communities to advance their own learning and development with respect to a range of topics that can be broadly characterized as enhancing the culture and climate within which we teach, provide service, and conduct research. You may recall from a past “Letter from the Chair” that Pat Herbst has been actively bringing people together around the topic of workforce education. He and Dr. Jim Jacobs established a panel discussion series this year: Challenges, Resources, Opportunities, and Practices in Workforce Education. They have invited fascinating guests to campus from industry, government, and nonprofit sectors. This effort has drawn members of the larger U-M community since this topic is relevant to researchers and practitioners from many backgrounds. I look forward to the growth of the Workforce Education Initiative.
Many students would not be able to join and enrich our community without support, which is why all leaders in this School are deeply committed to making resources available to student at all levels and in all areas of study. Please consider making a gift to support ES graduate students. Annual donations to our ES Fund are an important source of funding that goes directly toward students. They are deeply grateful and I am appreciative to be able to recruit and retain extraordinary students who go on to make an impact throughout the world. Thank you.
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This coming winter, there will be two new exciting course offerings by Educational Studies faculty. Professor Kathleen Graves will teach a course entitled Critical perspectives on the global role of English (EDUC 656, Tuesdays 9 -12). Participants in this class will critically examine the role and impact of English on educational policy, curriculum and assessment, materials, and teacher education. Professor Gina Cervetti will teach Engaging in the Practice of Writing Educational Research (EDUC 896, Mondays and Fridays 9-11). Designed for advanced (third-year and beyond) doctoral students, participants in this class will study the craft of academic writing and engage in supported opportunities to write. Finally, we are gearing up for our recruitment and admissions season, a very exciting time when we enhance our community. One hundred percent of our doctoral students are funded for four years of study, and about 80% of our master’s program students are provided financial support.
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Peer
Mentoring Program
Educational Studies Peer Mentoring Program
Online
GIVING Through the University of Michigan Online Giving site:
A gift to Educational Studies supports our students and programming! soe.link/give-es 4
The transition to graduate life can be difficult for each new cohort of doctoral students who arrive in Ann Arbor each fall. New students must simultaneously learn (or re-learn) how to read, write, think, live in a new city, and engage in a new community. In response to these myriad challenges, several students from the 2017 Educational Studies cohort came together to create the ES Doctoral Peer Mentor Network, an organization meant to ease incoming students’ transition into graduate life and support their ongoing development throughout their time at the School of Education. The network is not meant to facilitate 1:1 mentoring, but rather to provide a community of more advanced students who support the flow of information about coursework, life at U-M, the trajectory towards candidacy, and other aspects of doctoral life. If you are interested in learning more about the Peer Mentor Network, or getting involved in any way, please contact es.phd.peermentor@umich.edu. 2017-2018 Peer Mentor Network: Meghan McDermott, Teaching and Teacher Education Amanda Ketner, Quantitative Research Methods (dual degree in Statistics) Bill Waychunas, Teaching and Teacher Education Elena Crosley, Math Education Jared Tenbrink, Science Education Julia Lindsey, Literacy, Language, and Culture Mike Ion, Math Education
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Women of Color and the Academy Women of color are strong. We are beautiful. We are resilient. As women of color persisting in this predominantly white institution, we are always looking and hoping for spaces that center our identities and that enrich and sustain us. As student leaders in this community, we considered the tangible ways that we could practice our own commitment to the values of diversity, inclusion, justice, and equity. We chose to create a space that centers the voices and experiences of women of color. We wanted this space to be one where women of color can hear each other, support each other, and take up ideas in meaningful ways because we as women of color wanted a space where we felt heard, supported, and uplifted. This space became the Rackham Interdisciplinary Workshop titled Women of Color and the Academy.
prompt discussion and collaboration on a particular theme. These resources range in type and include journal articles, documentaries, podcasts, and museum and gallery visits. Our goal is to work as a community to develop knowledge of resources and materials that support rigorous thinking about race, research, and representation. Second, we hope that participants will be prepared to engage with topics of race and research in other personal and professional contexts and communities. This preparation includes practice with both specific materials and general topics and practice developing meaningful questions to employ in a variety of contexts to enrich future learning in other communities. Our goal is to empower community members to continue this work beyond the boundaries of this workshop series.
Women of Color and the Academy brings together education scholars and practitioners to examine issues related to race, research, representation, and positionality. Participants of this group work in various fields that intersect with education. Our work across these fields provides us varying insights into the representation and positioning of women of color within and outside of the university. This workshop has two primary objectives:
We created this workshop series as a space where women of color can reflect on their experiences and think deeply about the ways they see themselves contributing to their school and larger communities in ways that are sustaining. Often in academic contexts, women of color have these conversations in contexts where we have limited opportunities to engage with relevant issues in ways that center our experiences and perspectives. Often in institutional contexts, women of color may be invited to share about their own experiences in a way that supports institutional work but that ignores the ways in which we need support in order to persist.
• To expand what is considered to be academic by exposing the larger community to works created by or featuring women of color • To provide spaces where women of color can engage deeply with issues that impact them personally and professionally in a way that is responsive to their identities, time, and energies We have designed this workshop series around two primary learning goals. First, we hope that participants will be equipped with resources to support personal and professional development around the topic of race and research. Individual sessions use resources by and about women of color to
For questions or comments about this workshop series, please contact us. Student Coordinators Laura-Ann Jacobs (lxjacobs@umich.edu) Ebony Perouse-Harvey (eperouse@umich.edu) Faculty Sponsors Dr. Maisie Gholson (mgholson@umich.edu) Dr. Maren Oberman (mareneo@umich.edu)
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New Faculty
Spotlight Professor Leslie Rupert Herrenkohl
Written by Journey McAndrews
What would happen if a consortium of stakeholders came together to transform a poverty-impacted elementary school and a teacher education program into a collaborative learning community? Professor Leslie Rupert Herrenkohl sought to answer this question throughout her five-year involvement in a collaborative effort to transform an elementary school and a teacher education program in the Pacific Northwest with a focus on the full service community school model (FSCS). Before joining the Educational Studies Faculty at the University of Michigan, Herrenkohl, who is a developmental psychologist and learning scientist, was a faculty member in the College of Education at the University of Washington. A law passed in Washington state created the opportunity for three collaborations around the state to address the needs of poverty impacted schools, defined as schools with 75% of the student population receiving free- or reduced-cost lunch, and the preparation of educators who work within them. Herrenkohl says many povertyimpacted schools could benefit from the FSCS model. Herrenkohl’s research on FSCSs, some of which appears in a forthcoming special issue of Teachers College Record (under the title “Navigating Fragility and Building Resilience,”) describes FSCS programs as a community learning model that examines “current assets, practices, needs, and areas of improvement within the school” and brings these findings together to recognize “that children, particularly those from families impacted by poverty, are best served by schools that blend high quality instruction and academic supports with health and wellness programs developed in collaboration with community partners.” The consortium of stakeholders at the site where Herrenkohl worked was comprised of community based organizations who were working with the school, families 6
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and caregivers, counselors, medical professionals, school educators and leaders, and students and faculty from the university schools of education and social work. The consortium mapped out the school’s existing assets, identified needs within the school, and created a shared vision for the type of FSCS they wanted—one that included a holistic system of health and well-being within the school, which meant a clinic was built to provide on-site physical and mental health care to students, and a parent leadership program to amplify the voices of families of color at the school. The consortium created a FSCS model with four components: Academic Excellence, Extended Learning, Holistic Health and Wellness, and Family Engagement. Along with improving conditions within the school itself, this project addressed the preparation of teachers and other educators and leaders to work effectively in the FSCS model. Families took part in training new teachers to help “prepare future educators to work collaboratively with families in poverty-impacted contexts.” Teacher candidates spent time at the school and participated in summer programming to further engage with the FSCS model. Although there were many successes during the FSCS transformation project, Herrenkohl says that the partnership confronted many of the challenges that are well documented in the literature including staff turnover, and a host of changes orchestrated at the district level including new curricular adoptions in math and literacy, new assessments, new data systems, redrawn district boundaries, a new bell time schedule, and reducing transportation options to cut costs. The literature on school-university partnerships and FSCSs is replete with challenges, Herrenkohl says, but rarely focus on successes and accounts of actual on-the-ground implementation. The Teachers College Record Special Issue aims to document
findings from across the three sites in Washington, with one article focused specifically on teacher education, in order to address these gaps. Furthermore, she says, “Legislation and discourses about education in general are often framed negatively. We wanted to actively resist the deficit narrative of povertyimpacted students and families and the educators who work with them.” While it’s helpful to understand the challenges, Herrenkohl believes it is crucial for educators, community partners, families, and teacher educators to be focused on assets and successes and to work together in solidarity from the bottom up to create local investment and voice and to emphasize the resilient nature of the learning ecology for all involved. Recent philanthropic investments demonstrate clearly that top-down models that are imposed from outside with little local input or buy-in do not serve vulnerable communities. Moreover, Herrenkohl sees many similarities in her work in Washington state and the work she hopes to do with the Detroit Teaching School Partnership. Herrenkohl says, “The spirit of collaborative partnership between the University of Michigan and the Detroit Teaching School is evident as both entities work together to improve the preparation and professional development of teachers so teachers can engage in more informed work with families and students impacted by poverty.” In looking ahead at future goals in the SOE and at Michigan, Herrenkohl reflects on another area of her past educational research: when she managed the STUDIO: Build Our World project in Seattle. This project was funded by a NFS grant and consisted of undergraduate STEM students working as “near-peer” mentors for low-income, immigrant, and refugee middle and high school students.
“Rocket Science” Photo taken during the STUDIO: Build Our World “near-peer” mentoring project, Seattle, Washington The core concept of the STUDIO project centered on helping students to see “the STEM in them” and helping mentors understand how they were part of a community of learners and therefore could expect to learn as much from their mentees as their mentees learned from them. Rather than frame mentoring and education as the accrual of knowledge, Herrenkohl says she tries to help mentors and mentees view learning as complex relational work that is completed jointly across spaces. Herrenkohl’s involvement with the STUDIO project informs her continued effort to create programs that make STEM accessible to a wider range of students, and she hopes to engage in a collaborative effort with her SOE colleagues to bring more accessible, equitable STEM programming to life for students in Michigan. “Legislation in education is orchestrated around addressing negative circumstances, but we wanted to resist the deficit narrative in preparing teachers and staff to work with poverty-impacted students and families.” ~ Professor Leslie Rupert Herrenkohl
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Farah Elakhaoui Director, Posse Bay, San Francisco, CA Farah is the Director of The Posse Foundation, Bay Area. The Posse Foundation identifies, recruits, and trains individuals with extraordinary leadership potential. Posse Scholars receive full-tuition leadership scholarships from Posse’s 57 top-tier partner colleges and universities. Farah represents the youth focused mission of the program in the Bay Area by collaborating with 100+ public high schools and communitybased organizations. She manages the financial operations and development goals of the site, works closely with the local advisory board, and maintains strong relationships with university partners. Prior to working at Posse, Farah was a Diversity Programs Manager at the Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs (MESA) Office, and the Diversity Recruitment Coordinator and Diversity & Inclusion Coordinator at the School of Education at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Farah has a commitment to diversity, inclusion, and access and has cultivated a reputation of bringing communities together and providing structure through partnerships with senior higher education leadership. Farah holds a B.A. in Rhetorical Communication Studies and Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an M.A.Ed in Educational Studies, Teaching & Learning from the School of Education at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Jourdan Sutton is a Case Team Leader (Manager) with EY-Parthenon in San Francisco and has provided strategy consulting services to higher education and private equity clients. Jourdan has advised these clients on growth strategy, program and portfolio rationalization, business model redesign, and strategic planning. Prior to joining EY-Parthenon, Jourdan worked in corporate restructuring and business valuation services at Deloitte, LLP. At Deloitte, he helped both public and private sector clients restructure their organizations and/or launch new programs across the healthcare, urban development, and education sectors. Jourdan’s efforts have helped his clients navigate economic and political uncertainty to achieve sustainable growth. Jourdan’s functional expertise includes strategic restructuring, growth strategy, strategic planning, economic impact forecasting, post-merger integration, and comprehensive transformation planning. Mr. Sutton holds a B.A. in Sociology & Anthropology from DePauw University, and an MBA and M.A.Ed from the Ross School of Business and Rackham School of Education at the University of Michigan.
ESAlumni where we are now...
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Share your story... Are you an alum who would like to share their story with the Educational Studies community? Send us a note: es.announce @umich.edu
Jourdan & Farah’s Love Story Jourdan and Farah met on September 7, 2013 at the University of Michigan. (Go Blue!) Before we get into the nitty gritty, let’s rewind a bit… Jourdan and Farah are both Posse alumi. Posse is a four-year, full-tuition leadership scholarship that recruits diverse, talented teams of ten students, Posses, and sends them to top colleges and universities across the country. In 2001, Jourdan was recruited as a Posse Scholar in New York and attended DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. Six years later, and some couple of hundred miles away, Farah was recruited as a Posse Scholar in Chicago and attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison in Madison, Wisconsin. (Go Badgers!) While they were a part of the same program, and would later learn they had TONS of overlapping friends, Farah and Jourdan had never met. After graduating from DePauw, Jourdan built a successful career in finance and consulting. He lived and worked in New York, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. In 2012, Jourdan decided to get his MBA and thoughtfully, as he often does, began the application process. He ultimately decided to attend the University of Michigan to earn an MBA and M.Ed. In 2012, Farah also decided to return to school in order to pursue her M.Ed. Unlike Jourdan, Farah put all her eggs in one basket, as she sometimes does, and only applied to the University of Michigan. And, of course, she was admitted. Okay, it’s September 2013 again. Farah and Jourdan moved into their respective apartments on September 6th, ready to tackle graduate school. On September 7th, they both attended the Students of Color of Rackham (SCOR) welcome back BBQ in hopes of meeting students from other graduate programs at Michigan. Farah was chatting with Tony Rice, one of Jourdan’s good friends and an SOE alumnus, and while discussing their individual journeys to graduate school, Farah mentioned Posse. Tony said he was familiar with the organization and then said, turning around and pointing, “you should meet my boy Jourdan, he’s Posse.” A few days later, Jourdan and Farah spent hours at Espresso Royale across the street from the SOE discussing disparities in K-12 education and how they imagined themselves being a part of the solution. The rest is #ASuttonFarahTale! Farah and Jourdan exchanged vows at Tehama Golf Club in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA on November 3, 2018, surrounded by their closest friends and family.
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A Look Back...
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READ MORE ON THE SOE’S FOCUS ON HOMLESSNESS
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Regents of the University of Michigan Jordan B. Acker Huntington Woods Michael J. Behm Grand Blanc Mark J. Bernstein Ann Arbor Paul W. Brown Ann Arbor Shauna Ryder Diggs Grosse Pointe Denise Ilitch Bingham Farms Ron Weiser Ann Arbor Katherine E. White Ann Arbor Mark S. Schlissel ex officio
We would like to take the opportunity to recognize and thank those who have made donations to the Educational Studies Gift Fund. Your gifts have supported the work of the program and the students we serve.
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you!
Mrs. Nancy S. Bley & Mr. Michael Bley Dr. Elizabeth Davis Ms. Julie A. Evans Dr. Barry J. Fishman Ms. Anita L. Greca Mr. David A. Helms & Mrs. Mary Alice S. Helms Dr. Patricio Herbst and Dr. Vilma Mesa Mrs. Prescilla Karen Jameson† Mrs. Stephanie & Mr. Frederic Keywell Mrs. Kristin M. Kless & Mr. Wayne B. Kless Dr. Joseph S. Krajcik Mr. Elvin Kranen Ms. Patricia A. Kraus Mr. Joseph Lapides Dr. Pamela A. Moss Ms. Pat Natalie† Mrs. Barbara W. Niffenegger & Mr. Paul J. Niffenegger Dr. Annemarie Palincsar Ms. Sheila Pashman Dr. Thomas M. Reischl Ms. Maria P. Romo Mr. Charles J. Sinche & Mrs. Sheryl L. Sinche Dr. Rachel B. Snider Mrs. Carol Bain Wilson & Mr. Dennis C. Wilson † Donor is deceased © 2018 Regents of the University of Michigan
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SCHOOL OF EDUCATION EDUCATIONAL STUDIES 610 E. University Avenue, Room 4218 Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1259 734.763.9497 edstudies.info@umich.edu