The
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The Newsletter of the Department of Education Policy and Social Analysis at Teachers College, Columbia University
Issue 2, Volume 1
Spring 2012
newsletter
Welcome to second installment of The EPSA-logue, the departmental newsletter of the newly created Department of Education Policy and Social Analysis. Our newsletter’s name “EPSA-logue” stems from the suffix “logue” (origin French and Latin “logos”) and denoting discourse, written or spoken, of a specified type (e.g. dialogue, monologue, travelogue). We hope that it will produce numerous conversations and presentations on various topics relating to education policy and social analysis. All are welcome to participate.
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Table
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3 The EPSA Departmental Mission 4 From the Chair’s Desk 6 News You Can Use 8 The EPSA Inauguration 10 Panels & Presentations 14 Student News 16 Current Student Research 17 Faculty Research 18 Alumni Q & A 20 Alumni Notes 22 Rebell With a Cause 24 Summer and Fall Courses 26 Student Travel Reimbursement Awards 28 What Are You Reading Right Now? 29 Stay Connected 30 What’s Next?
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Mission Teachers College, already known for shaping data-driven policy choices in education circles, is now poised to become the pre-eminent training ground for future education policy leaders in academia, government, communities, and the non-profit education delivery sector. The mission of The Department of Education Policy and Social Analysis is to engage in cutting edge research and teaching to address critical problems affecting education and contribute to informed analysis and action to promote educational achievement and equity.
EPSA starts out with a broad and inclusive view of the kinds of issues that its faculty and students might consider important to address. Explicitly, we are interested in both formal institutions of schooling and the political, bureaucratic, organizational, economic and social factors that profoundly affect both schools and the broader educational enterprise. We are interested in the role that families, communities, and civil society can play in promoting education outside the school building walls. We have a special interest and capability in addressing issues from pre-K through higher education, in identifying ways in which laws and institutions affect education, and in understanding the growing role of private for-profit and nonprofit organizations in delivering education technologies and services. Students in this department will develop general skills of policy research and analysis, along with general perspectives on policy development and implementation that are widely applicable to other domains of public policy. Social analysis grounded in disciplinary studies in sociology, political science, and economics should inform applied policy studies and vice versa.
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From the Chair’s Desk
Jeffrey R. Henig, Ph.D.
Dear Prospective and Current Students, Alumni, and Friends: As we approach the end of our first year as a fully functioning department, I’m most struck by how natural EPSA feels, and how quickly students, faculty, and interested observers from outside the College have begun to see us as if we have been here for years. Complementary interests and approaches are what drew us together, and they are the ingredients making it fun to build something together and watch it take shape. Perhaps the high point—at least in terms of pure ritual—was the February 8th Inaugural Celebration, capped off by President Fuhrman’s remarks and a panel discussion on “The Future of Education Policy: The 2012 Election and Beyond.” There’s more information about this elsewhere in this newsletter, but I wanted to say something about the substance of the discussion on the panel as an indication of 4
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what EPSA aspires to represent. Public discourse about education policy too often is reduced to shrill and simplified opposing assertions; that’s especially the case in the context of high profile political campaigns. Christopher Cross, Jack Jennings, and Wendy Puriefoy each have enviable records of dealing with the intersecting arenas of education policy, practice, politics, and research, both inside and outside government. In drawing on this, they did not converge on a homogenous perspective. The discussion highlighted reasonable differences in perspective: thoughtful, analytical, historicallygrounded, informed by both scholarly research and personal experience; edgy at times, but not narrowly partisan and always respectful. EPSA students, faculty, and alumni inevitably will disagree on the particulars of many critical education policy debates; if we didn’t it would be a sign that we were either indifferent or brain dead.
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But in our scholarship, classes, and public events, we can do our best to engage in the kind of reflective and open consideration of the evidence that is called for when dealing with complex and challenging issues like education and school reform. Our own faculty and students have been busy. Besides this newsletter, we hope you’ll follow things by monitoring our website, www.tc.edu/ epsa, and following us on Facebook and Twitter. We’re especially pleased by the strong showing of our students who have or will be presenting papers at major conferences this year, as reported elsewhere in this issue. This is great exposure for the department and, more importantly, a great professional experience for the students. We were able to allocate almost nine thousand dollars to help 22 students defray some of their travel expenses but we’d love to be able to do even more. If you’re interested and in position to help with this and other EPSA efforts please consider making a donation to our EPSA General Gift Fund.
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May 15th marks the first graduation ceremony in which EPSA will be represented. For those current students who will be moving on, we’re excited about having you join the ranks of our alumni. For those earlier generations who went through your respective graduation ceremonies as members of our programs’ previous host-departments, we hope you’re beginning to settle in to the notion that you are part of the EPSA community. To all of you, and to other interested readers, please let us know what you think we’re doing right and what ideas you have about what you might like to see from EPSA and in this newsletter as we proceed from here.
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News You CanUse Program of Study Essentials Breadth Requirement One of the important conditions for any TC student to meet for their program of study is the so-called “breadth requirement.” The general TC policy on the subject states “to fulfill the College breadth requirement, students in M.A., M.S., and Ed.M. programs must take a minimum of three TC courses (each for a minimum of 2 points) outside of their major program. Students may not use non-TC courses to meet the breadth requirement. The College does not set a blanket TC-point minimum for doctoral degrees. However, individual programs have requirements that students can only meet through TC courses. Students should consult with their academic advisors to ensure that courses taken at affiliate institutions or through the Doctoral Consortium will count towards their program plans.”1 Each student, from the moment he/she starts a program of studies at Teachers College until graduation, works with an assigned advisor who counsels them on academic matters and on rules and policies to be followed in order to get their degree. Those rules and requirements are also available in program guides and worksheets which the EPSA department updates and posts on our website. In addition, EPSA department staff members make sure to provide our students with the list of courses that are available each semester. These semester course planners become available shortly before the registration opens for continuing students. Students receive them via emails, find them posted on program websites, and get them from their advisors or in our main office at 212 Zankel Bldg. Each program guide states the exact breadth requirement for a degree. All TC students have the option of taking courses at Columbia University, Barnard College, or other CU schools. Also, doctoral students beyond their first year of study may register at participating institutions in the Doctoral Consortium (IUDC)2. The EPSA department four main programs’ breath requirements vary from one another, so students are asked to consult their advisors for their programs and degree specific information.
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Both Summer 2012 and Fall 2012 Registration are right around the corner. Registration for continuing students begins on Monday, April 23rd. Please be sure to secure any special permissions you might need in advance of registration. The Summer 2012 Course Schedule is currently posted online at: http://www.tc.edu/academics/index.htm? Id=Course+Schedule&Info=Course+Schedule
Cross-registration All TC students who wish to take a course at Columbia University will still register at TC. When the advisor approves the outside course as fitting with student’s program of study, the student will still need to obtain an approval from the course instructor. The approval needs to be in writing on a TC registration card (available at the Registrar’s office, Thorndike Bldg., 3rd Floor), or can be written as a short note by the instructor / departmental representative. The TC Registrar representative will then enter the approval and the student will be able to register online through My TC Portal. Five-digit CU call number will be required while adding a class online. It will replace the CRN number of a TC course. It is important to make sure that the calendar of study of other schools will not coincide with TC course schedule. Cross-registration with Columbia University begins later than registration in TC courses. Usually, it will be open one week before the start of a given semester. Since the date might vary, one can email registrar@tc.edu two to four weeks prior to the start of the semester to find out the specific date. Students cross-registered at another university are subject to the academic regulations of the host university, including the grading system, calendar, and academic honor system. However, they will be billed according to CU tuition rates. With any questions regarding a cross-registration issue, please call the Registrar’s Office at 212-678-4050 or the EPSA department at 212-678-3165. 1. 2.
http://www.tc.columbia.edu/registrar/detail.asp?Id=Degree+Information&Info=Non-TC+Credit+Limits For the list of participating institutions and the IUDC registration form please go to http://www.tc.edu/registrar/detail.asp? Id=Registration+Tools&Info=IUDC+Registration Doctoral Consortium registration is open to TC doctoral students only beyond their first year of study. The form has to be signed at the host institution first and then bring the completed form back to the TC Registrar for processing (you can fax it as well to 212-678-3005). When registering through IUDC, you will pay TC’s current tuition rate.
May Graduation Master’s Ceremony Tuesday, May 15, 2012 2:00pm to 4:15pm The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Avenue at 112th Street
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Doctoral Hooding Ceremony Wednesday, May 16, 2012 2:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Avenue at 112th Street
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The
EPSAInauguration Wednesday, February 8, 2012
The Inaugural Celebration of the Department of Education Policy and Social Analysis
The Future of Education Policy: The 2012 Election and Beyond
From L to R; Susan Fuhrman (at podium), Jack Jennings, Wendy Puriefoy, Jeffrey Henig, Christopher Cross
On Wednesday, February 8, TC President Susan Fuhrman hosted students, faculty members, alumni and guests at the EPSA inaugural event. The Future of Education
Policy: The 2012 Election and Beyond began with a reception in the Everett Lounge and concluded with a panel discussion in the Cowin Center. Moderated by EPSA department chair Jeffrey Henig, the panel was comprised of 8
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distinguished education policy analysts: Christopher T. Cross, a former U.S. Under Secretary of Education and the current chairman of education-policy consulting firm Cross & Joftus; Jack Jennings, founder and recently retired Director of the Center on Education Policy; and Wendy D. Puriefoy, President of the Public Education Network (PEN), the nation’s largest network of community-based school reform organizations.
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During the reception, guests enjoyed good food and the mellow sounds of a jazz quartet.
The panel discussed the ways that federal law, jurisprudence and policy have shaped American schools, with a particular focus on the current intersection between education and government. The panelists described the challenges facing U.S. schools, and suggested changes in policy that might address some of these issues in the next administration. The event drew a large crowd including, alumni, trustees, faculty, students, and many people outside of TC with a vested interest in the future of education policy. The panelists provided a range of viewpoints which informed their recommendations. In the questions and answer session, Professor Henig worked hard to ensure a variety of questions were addressed noting the panel’s responses were not a final conversation but rather a beginning one. The EPSA-logue
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Books by the panelists and other texts on ed policy were available for free or purchase outside of the event.
For a video of the panel discussion, please visit the following link: http://blip.tv/teachers-college-columbia -university/the-future-of-educationpolicy-the-2012 election-and-beyond5946402 Issue Spring 2, Volume 2012 1
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Panels Lectures Conferences
&Presentations Screenings
February and March were extremely busy months, with a number of events directed by our faculty and students and events of which EPSA was a proud co-sponsor or supporter.
The Assessment & Evaluation Research Initiative (AERI) Symposium: March 28-29th Institute: March 30-31st The Assessment & Evaluation Research Initiative (AERI) held their inaugural international conference event on the theme: Educational Assessment Accountability, and Equity: Conversations on Validity around the World. There was a 2-day symposium, March 28-29th. The aim of the conference was to promote open conversations on validity and discuss issues related meaningful use of educational assessment information in applied education settings around the world. A broad audience was invited and welcomed to join, including, but not limited to, teachers, educators, funders, policy-makers, the media and both technical and
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non-technical stakeholders of educational testing and assessment programs. In addition, there was a 2-day institute, March 30-31st, providing a sampler of short courses on assessment and evaluation topics for researchers, evaluators, practitioners/policy-makers delivered by expert faculty, including some of our very own EPSA faculty such as Professor Francisco Rivera-Batiz, Professor Judith Scott-Clayton, and Dr. Clive Belfield. The EPSA Department was a proud co-sponsor of this event. For more information, please go to the following link: http:// www.tc.edu/aeriassessmentconference/
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TEDx Teachers College: Innovations in International Education East to West, A Civilization Documentary
March 23rd TEDxTeachersCollege integrated prominent TED talk videos and live speakers to spark deep discussion and connections. This specific TEDx event sought to be a platform for leading professionals, educators, policymakers, and students to share their passions and experiences regarding education and its critical role in achieving social justice at the international level. Speakers at the event addressed some of the most important and relevant topics in the field: Gender and Equity, Education Policy, Peace and Justice, and Technology and Media in Education. For speaker and program information, bios, event sponsors, please visit their website at: http://www.tedxteacherscollege.com EPSA was a proud co-sponsor for this groundbreaking event.
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Film Screening: March 27th EPSA’s Economics & Education Program co-sponsored a film-screening event and photo exhibition with Bahçeşehir University of Turkey. The film, East to West, A Civilization Documentary: The Untold Story of the Modern World, was produced by Bahcesehir University and is an excellent documentary examining the flow of social, economic and cultural forces from the Middle East to Europe through the ages. Prior to the film screening, attendees were invited to view a photo exhibition by the leading photographers of Turkey in the foyer of the Cowin Conference Center Auditorium. The exhibition included the works of Ara Guler, Sitki Firat, Prof. Sabit Kalfagil and Izzet Keribar, who received the "Outstanding Contribution to Culture and Arts Award" by the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier this month. Issue 2,Spring Volume 2012 1
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Safeguarding Sound Basic Education in Hard Economic Times Conference: March 23rd Seeking to better define and secure the essential resources, supports, and services students need, even in times of fiscal constraint, the Campaign for Education Equity, Teachers College, Columbia University, convened two important conferences in Albany and New York City earlier this month. At these events, the group released “Reviewing Resources,” its preliminary report on the availability of Basic Educational Resources in high-needs New York City schools.
The conference participants largely agreed that defining the programmatic and resource requirements needed to provide all students a meaningful opportunity to a sound basic education is “frustrating and difficult,” but that it is an essential step for ensuring that all students obtain the skills and knowledge to become capable citizens and competitive workers in the global economy. The Campaign intends to release a summary of the specific positions and ideas articulated by the conference shortly.
Although the decisions of New York’s highest court in Campaign for Educational Equity (CFE) v. State of New York had led the legislature to enact funding reforms that promised high need districts throughout the state substantial funding increases, the governor and the legislature have reneged on these commitments. This year’s state aid budget cut over $2 billion in education funding. The Campaign’s conferences convened educators, parents, advocates, school officials, public officials, CBOs, and others to consider the impact on students’ constitutional right to the opportunity for a sound basic education and to deliberate on specific requirements that the state—or possibly the court— should adopt to ensure the availability of sufficient resources, even in hard economic times.
The “Reviewing Resources” report states that in the vast majority of New York City schools, principals and teachers who were interviewed reported substantial gaps in their ability to provide (1) a suitable curriculum for all students; (2) an expanded platform of services for at risk students; (3) resources for improving teacher quality; and (4) a safe, orderly environment that provides supportive climate for learning. It found, for example, that virtually none of the 34 schools covered by the report were providing their students the full range of academic intervention services required by state regulations, and a number of high schools students lacked access to basic science courses in chemistry and physics and to Advanced Placement courses.
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Making New York City’s Public Schools Broader, Bolder, and More Equitable: A Joint CEE/BBA Education Policy Event Panel: March 27th
Hearts on Fire Workshop: Turn Your Idealism into Action! Workshop: March 31st EPSA Adjunct Professor Peter Cookson and Jill Iscol recently published a book called "Hearts on Fire: Twelve Stories of Today's Visionaries Igniting Idealism into Action." It has been very well received and on March 31st they organized the first workshop at TC. Participants were invited to join the authors for a day of professional exploration and discovery, turning idealism into action based on the ideas in their book. Dr. Cookson teaches in EPSA’s Sociology and Education Program.
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With New York City education policy at a critical juncture, the Campaign for Educational Equity, Teachers College, Columbia University and the Broader Bolder Approach to education held a panel discussion on changes to promote an equitable and comprehensive approach to education. Leaders from CEE and BBA joined NYC officials to hone in on the economics and implementation details of how this comprehensive approach can be adopted on a large-scale basis in NYC. Panelists included, Dr. Pedro Noguera (NYU Professor and BBA Co-Chair), Michael Rebell (TC Professor and Director of the Campaign for Educational Equity), Scott Stringer (Manhattan Bureau President), and Shael Suransky (Deputy Chancellor, NYCDOE) The event was held at the Salome Urena de Henriquez Campus in Washington Heights, NYC, a NYDOE-Children’s Aid Society Community School that exemplifies the broader, bolder approach advocated. Issue 2,Spring Volume 2012 1
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Student
Busy lives and schedules not withstanding, EPSA students still find to time to write, research, present, give interviews, lecture, publish, and even win awards! Congratulations on your accomplishments! You’ve represented your program and department well and we couldn’t be prouder!
Article Publications: Terrenda White, Ph.D. Candidate, Program in Sociology and Education (2011). “Critical Pedagogy in Uncertain Times: Hope and Possibilities” (book review). International Studies in Sociology of Education. Vol. 21, No. 4, December 2011, 331–340.
Awards: Maria Emma Garcia-Garcia, Ph.D. Candidate, Program in Economics & Education Recipient of a 2012-2013 dissertation grant, in conjunction with the AERA Grants Program, sponsored by the National Science Foundation. RJ Walz, M.A. Candidate, Program in Economics & Education Recipient of the AY2011-2012 Zankel Fellowship at Teachers College
Competitions Robert Shand, Ph.D. Candidate, Program in Economics & Education Veronica Minaya-Lazarte, Ph.D. Candidate, Program in Economics & Education Recipients of a globally competitive scholarship, sponsored by Privatization in Education Research Initiative (PERI) which provides full funding to attend a week-long institute, at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary on privatization in education, from July 25th to July 29th The scholarship covers visa, travel, housing accommodation, tuition fees, and a subsistence allowance. These scholarships were extremely competitive and were limited to 25 winners. 14
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Conference Presentations: Terrenda White, Ph.D. Candidate, Program in Sociology and Education 2012. “Pedagogy In the Market or Pedagogy Of the Market?: Using Critical Race Theory to Challenge Claims of ‘Progressive Neoliberalism & Race-Neutral Pedagogy.” Paper accepted to Critical Race Studies in Education Conference 2012. Panel Session Title: Chronicles of the Sacrificed Black Schoolchildren: Race, Education Markets, and Community Dispossession in New Orleans, Chicago, and New York City.
Post-Graduate Academic Appointment: Rachel Rosen, Ph.D. (expected May 2012), Program in Leadership, Policy & Politics Has accepted a post-doctoral position at the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan
Television Appearances/Interviews: Basil Smikle, Ph.D. Candidate, Program in Politics and Education Guest appearance, on a political panel, on Fox News Live. Topic: 2012 Presidential politics and health care (April 9, 2012) Justin Snider, Ph.D. Candidate, Program in Politics and Education Guest appearance, along with AFT President Randi Weingarten, on CNN. Topic: Study: Teachers affect student salaries, college, teen pregnancy (January 14, 2012) To view the video, click the following link: http:yourbottoline.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/14/ study-teachers-affect-student-salaries-college-teen-pregnancy/ Guest appearance, along with Leonie Haimson, Executive Director of Class Size Matters, on CNN. Topic: Does Class Size Matter? (December 10, 2011) To view, click the following link: http: yourbottomline.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/10/does-classsize-matter/ The EPSA-logue
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CURRENT STUDENT RESEARCH
Economics & Education Leadership, Policy & Politics Politics & Education Sociology & Education Iván Ariel De Jesús, a doctoral student in the Economics and Education program, grew up in New York City, and was a competitive swimmer through college. Prior to attending the program, he graduated from Oberlin College, with degrees in Economics and Political Science, interned at the U.S. President’s Council of Economic Advisers and was an American Economic Association SMP Fellow for two years.
His current research areas include: 1) The economic impact of bilingual education on language minority students 2) The structure and organization of the education market and 3) Household behavior towards education. 16 The EPSA-logue
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In this segment, we feature a current student and the research in which they are presently engaged. .Each issue will provide insight into their work and what they hope to contribute to the field.
Presently Ivan is building a data set from a medium size school district in New Jersey in order to empirically research a broad ranges of topics. When completed, the data set will cover 12 years with grades pre-k through 12. Currently, he is working on collecting information on teachers and other school administrators. As part of this aspect of the data collection a survey is being developed. It is hoped that with personnel records and the survey a richer analysis understanding will emerge. The data collection endeavor developed from his dissertation work, which is on evaluating education programs, specifically focuses on language minority students. The data collection process has been a tremendous learning opportunity – one that he suspects most empirical researchers rarely experience. By observing daily activities of the school district, Ivan has gleaned a deeper understanding of schools and districts’ strengths, and, how they are constrained. It has also broadened his understanding of how they are organized, how they are structured and how a host of other factors influence school activities ranging from the political economy to the notion of the education production function. As he observes, it has been a tremendous learning experience!
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Original Research On
Children First Networks Of the New York City Department of Education
Education is both a technical and an institutional sector. Case in point, the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) is a technical organizational entity in that accountability by way of student achievement is the fundamental output assessed by state and federal government. Simultaneously the DOE has a tacit obligation to public constituents and organizations—parents, unions, taxpayers, voters— making it an institutional entity. In the early years of Children First reforms, a more centralized structure allowed the DOE to buffer various non-DOE entities’ demands. However these local political realities are the impetus for institutional change. The motivator of governmental reform is consumer choice and decentralizing school authority lead to better fiscal operations and a network school support structure in this district. Children First Networks (CFNs) are a unique form of district support to public schools. They are a small team model of instructional, achievement, and operational support, but with a market component as principals choose what network will provide them with services. There are about 6 clusters of 10 networks for a total of 60 CFNs. Each has a leader or co-leaders and consists of about 15 members with cross-functional roles. All networks have a cohort of 20-30 schools and depending on what schools select them, these schools may be in one NYC borough, or span all five. Each network is a sub-organization. They operate from satellite locations, yet are under the purview of the central district office. CFNs vary in type. Many are part of the Empowerment Zone, which gave 29 principals greater instructional and budgetary autonomy during the 2004-2005 school year and has since grown to established the school support model The EPSA-logue
By Fanon Howell, Ph.D. Visiting Post-Doctoral Fellow upon which CFNs are patterned. Others are a mix of instructional, organizational and operations professionals, MBA managers, lawyers, and previous principals and superintendents. A third category is made up of university and non-profit sponsored networks, making this school support arrangement a network form in-itself. I argue that CFNs are decentralizing instruments of the DOE, but also centralizing agents. They are an innovative mechanism of school support, yet they maintain bureaucratic norms by cultivating isomorphic practices among schools given common accountability procedures. These networks do not formally evaluate principals or school staff, but they do facilitate institutional stability by coaching on common core objectives, accountability measures, and standard operations that guide local school decision-making. This relationship partially constitutes the DOE’s natural or collective organizational trait as CFNs have a common interest in its survival. Further because they serve as consultants, of a sort, to schools, CFNs contribute to the DOE’s open organizational quality. That is, they facilitate the process of negotiating interests with schools’ organizational environment— the non-DOE companies, non-profits, universities and related entities that impact the work of schooling. Decentralization of school instructional and operational decision-making in NYC transitions student performance accountability to schools. It redirects the responsibility for technical outcomes away from central administration. This is a legitimating move on the part of the DOE. It distributes leadership to inform and validate central policy. Decisions made at the district level are rationalized given school performance and the central office can thus position itself as impartially carrying out accountability initiatives. Spring 2012
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alumni Q&A
Maria Jimenez graduated from the Politics & Education Program with an M.A. degree in February 2005. Presently she is a Ph.D. student at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. 1. Maria, you graduated from Teachers College in 2005 with an M.A. in Politics and Education. How did that program prepare you for the professional and academic life that followed your graduation? The M.A. programs in Politics and Education provided me with a comprehensive understanding of the intersection of politics and power in the United States, and its influence on the United States educational system. In my courses, I studied how various political factors, which are directly connected to issues of power, influence and shape the development and implementation of various educational reforms, policies, and educational movements. Moreover, my research interests included education reform, particularly charter schools and school vouchers and their impact on the educational opportunities afforded to underrepresented students. 2. You continued your academic career by applying to a Ph.D. program in Education Policy, Organization & Leadership in the College of Education at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Why did you see the need to continue studies in a doctoral program? My decision to pursue a Ph.D. in Educational Policy, Organization, & Leadership was both personal and academic. Personally, as a first generation college student, it was important for me to continue my education after my Bachelor’s Degree and obtain the highest degree possible in my field. Academically, pursing a Master’s Degree, then Ph.D. would make me more marketable in my field but would also provide me with additional academic training and experience. My decision to continue my education was more driven by personal reasons than my desire to promote my
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career. Additionally, my ultimate goal was to serve as a role model and inspire other Latina/o students to pursue a higher education. 3. Tell us about your current research interests, especially about STEM Teaching & Learning program and I-Stem Education Initiative. Are these original local Illinois state initiatives or have other states adopted them? What are their main strengths? What is their main goal and how can the US education system profit from them? I am currently a Graduate Research Assistant at I-STEM, an education Initiative at the University of Illinois. The goals of I -STEM are to: 1) facilitate P-16 education outreach, 2) improve STEM teacher training and professional development quality, 3) focus undergraduate and graduate STEM education reform, and; 4) shape policy and advocate for STEM education. In this capacity, I work on various evaluation projects, including an evaluation of a study funded by the Spencer Foundation and the Teagle Foundation: Enhancing Traditional and Innovative Approaches to Advanced Composition in Academic Disciplines; an evaluation of the NSF-funded project, Entrepreneurial Leadership in STEM Teaching and Learning (EnLiST); and an evaluation of a Title VI program, African Institute for Educators. The initiatives we work with at I-STEM are national, state and local. The strength of our work is that our evaluations help to inform program improvement. Currently, we are providing evaluation support to over 30 national, state and local STEM education projects. 4. When do you plan to graduate and what are your professional goals? I will graduate in May 2012. I plan to pursue a career in a private research/evaluation company. In the future, I would also like to start my own evaluation consulting practice.
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alumni Q&A
Heather Schwartz graduated from the Program in Leadership, Policy and Politics with a Ph.D. degree in May 2005. Presently she is employed in the New Orleans office of the Rand Corporation as a Policy Researcher. 1) How have the research and work on your doctoral dissertation prepared you for the future professional career? My dissertation, titled “Do poor children benefit academically from economic integration in schools and neighborhoods? Evidence from an affluent suburb's affordable housing lotteries” has had a huge impact on my career so far. I used it as the basis for my job talk paper when applying to research organizations, and my first research grant expanded on my dissertation to study 10 other cities that had a housing policy similar to the one I examined in the dissertation. Four years later, I’m still doing work on topics related to my dissertation, including fielding a social networks survey of the same residents I studied in my dissertation. The process of researching and writing the dissertation was definitely among the most useful, hands-on experiences I had in graduate school; I now routinely repeat the steps I first learned for the dissertation like writing proposals to obtain research funds, requesting data from organizations like schools, districts, and state or federal education agencies, and then assembling data, and conducting analyses. 2) Tell us a little about what it is like to work for a research organization like RAND. What are your current projects? Are you able to utilize the skills you acquired during studies at TC? At research organizations like RAND or its competitors most often work in teams on projects, and I like the accountability that teamwork encourages. I find working in teams a fun way to generate research questions and to then design studies that would be best suited to answer those questions. The major challenge of working in a research organization is that your work is primarily funded by grants (e.g., from a foundation) and contracts (e.g., from the federal or state government), which means there is an ongoing need to write proposals.
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But as I write research proposals, I find myself often going back to readings from my TC classes to create a theoretical framework for a study or to start literature reviews. Those classes have also shaped the way I think about the trade-offs associated with school reform policies such as school choice or teacher performance evaluation systems. Currently, I’m working on four projects: a formative evaluation of summer school in six school districts in preparation for a randomized controlled trial starting in summer 2013; a study of whether the integration of low-income families into low-poverty neighborhoods may or may not influence children’s social networks, schooling experiences, and health outcomes; a study of whether 11 cities inclusionary zoning programs do indeed provide low-income people access to low-poverty neighborhoods and highperforming schools; and an evaluation of a grant program to cities designed to channel volunteerism into paths that best suit mayors’ top identified priorities. 3) What do you think are the hot topics in education where there will be the most new research in the next few years? As anyone at TC could tell you in February 2012 when individual teachers’ value-added measures were released publicly, designing teacher and principal performance evaluation systems is a hugely controversial and timeconsuming task. This is certainly a top priority right now for states that have committed to the use of test scores as one factor in their revised teacher rating systems. Other areas that seem to me to be growing are technology applications designed to provide real-time information about students to their teachers and school administrators, evaluating STEM curricula and the preparation of STEM teachers, and measuring students’ college and career readiness, including predictive measures of those constructs.
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Notes Dr. Radhika Iyengar is a 2011 Ph.D. graduate of the Economics and Education Program. Her advisor was Professor Henry Levin. Currently, she holds the position of Director of Education, of the Nigeria Scale-up Initiative of the Earth Institute of Columbia University.
About her work and research, in her own words: Nigeria recently made history by launching one of the world’s largest poverty elimination campaigns aimed at achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. Known as the Conditional Grants Scheme (CGS) and with $1 billion per year, the program reaches out to nearly 25 million people in 113 Local Government Areas with the specific objectives of 1) investing in the MDGs at the sub-national level and promoting local ownership and sustainability 2) empowering State and Local Governments to carry out their constitutional responsibilities and 3) leveraging public sector organizational and expenditure reform, along with national planning to improve service delivery. The Nigeria Scale-Up Initiative, run out of the Earth Institute (EI) was hired by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President (of Nigeria) on the MDGs. EI was brought on as a technical consultant to advise the Office of Senior Special Assistant to the President (OSSAP) on MDGs on how 20 The EPSA-logue
To achieve the MDGs in 113 Local Government Areas (LGAs) across Nigeria. As The Director of Education, Nigeria Scale-up Initiative, I serve as the key advisor for the education sector, by working closely with The Earth Institute lateral teams such as Health, Infrastructure and M&E, while also coordinating closely with the Nigeria Government’s Education Head. My work primarily involves providing technical guidance to the education planners and implementers to effectively collect ‘real-time” data and facilitate data-driven budgeting, planning and implementation at the local level. Radhika Iyengar, Ph.D. Director of Education, Nigeria Scale-up Initiative Earth Institute, Columbia University
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Notes Dr. M. Najeeb Shafiq is a 2005 Ph.D. graduate of the Economics and Education Program. His advisor was Professor Henry Levin. Currently, he holds a joint appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Administrative & Policy Studies, in the School of Education and Department of Economics, at the University of Pittsburgh.
About his work and research, in his own words: I am an education economist and serve as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Administrative and Policy Studies at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Education. I also have a secondary appointment in the Department of Economics. From September 2012, I begin my appointment as a tenured Associate Professor. My recent research papers are on the social benefits of education (using public opinion data), household schooling and child labor decisions, and education reform (particularly educational privatization and accountability-based reform). I teach graduate courses on the economics of education, social theories, and quantitative methods. Click here to watch a Youtube presentation of my ongoing research on the origins of the Arab Spring. M. Najeeb Shafiq, Ph.D. Assistant Professor University of Pittsburgh
CONGRATULATIONS! Congratulations on your recent award of tenure and promotion to Associate Professor, effective 9/1/2012! We are so proud of you! The EPSA-logue
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Professor Michael Rebell’s first introduction to Teachers College came when, as lead counsel for the plaintiffs in Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) v. State of New York, he was looking for educational experts to testify on the plaintiffs’ behalf, he found that most of the leading educational policy experts in the country were faculty members at TC. When former TC president Dr. Arthur Levine offered him the opportunity to head the new Campaign for Educational Equity that the school was establishing in 2005, Professor Rebell realized that the TC faculty would help him get a deeper understanding of what students truly need to obtain a sound basic education and to achieve educational equity. It did not have to be said that this was really a win-win situation for TC students. When Professor Rebell accepted Dr. Levine’s invitation, students gained a chance to learn from someone who was seeking to ground his legal and policy strategies in solid academic research and whose professional life was devoted to fighting for the most disadvantaged kids. Professor Rebell completed his undergraduate studies at Harvard College, which helped to inspire his future interests. Influenced by the social movements of the 60’s, he joined the Peace Corps upon graduation and spent two years in the West-African country of Sierra Leone. During the 50s and 60s, the African continent was the place to go for anyone who would want to experience independence movements and formation of new states and observe the social struggles of new nations. When Michael Rebell arrived in Sierra Leone in 1966, the country was a new democracy, having gained independence in 1961. During his stay, there was military coup that took over the government, and he now reminisces with a smile that while he was teaching political science at the university some of the officers responsible for the coup sat in his class. After two years in Sierra Leone, Michael came back to the States and entered Yale Law School. Although at first he did not know what kind of law he would want to practice, he knew
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that it would be related to social reform. Coincidentally, an interesting course in law and education drew his attention. This interest has stayed on his professional agenda from that time on. Professor Rebell ’s initial position was with a New York law firm
convinced Michael Rebell to sue the state for failing to properly fund NYC’s public schools. The idea of The Campaign for Fiscal Equity was born and together with some education advocacy and parents groups, they started their fight with the state. The wheels of justice crank slowly, says Professor Rebell, so what started in 1993 finished only in 2006. First, they spent years researching every aspect of NYC school system, every aspect of state funding system, and determined how to demonstrate why it was unfair. An initial two year battle was needed to prove that New York State was failing in its constitutional obligation to provide a sound basic education to thousands of its children. The case went through all levels of NYS courts and through numerous appeals. Finally, on November 20, 2006, the Court of Appeals handed down its
Rebell that was representing the board of education in implementing the new school decentralization law. Very soon, however, he joined a civil rights organization that was advising the newly formed committee school boards and he never went back to the law firm. For some time he set his interests on the topics of school decentralization, special education, testing, and school desegregation. In early 90’s, when New York City public schools were experiencing many budget cuts, Michael Rebell met a very charismatic leader, Robert Jackson, then the Community School Board 6 President, who argued that many city schools were being destroyed by reductions in state aid and that students were not
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decision and affirmed that the State’s constitution requires that every public school child in the State of New York had a right to a “sound basic education” (defined as “a meaningful high school education” that provides the skills students need to be capable citizens and competitive workers in the global economy). The court asked the NYS legislature to come up with a very solid reform plan. As a result, the state promised NYC schools an increase of over $5 billion in operating aid and schools in the rest of the state increases of approximately $4 billion to be phased in over 4 years.1 The schools received promised financial aid from the state for two years after the win but after the recession in 2008, the governor and legislature first froze the foundation aid, and for the last two years have substantially reduced state aid by billions
Spring 2012
of dollars. Full funding for the promised amounts has been deferred to 2016-2017. The governor argued that in this time of fiscal constraint, schools should make extra efforts to eliminate unnecessary costs and utilize existing reserve finds. However, in his article “CFE v. State of New York: Past, Present and Future.”2 Professor Rebell argues that constitutionally, the governor and the legislation have a constitutional obligation not merely to exhort school districts to “do more with less” but to show how students can receive the opportunity for a sound basic education at these lower funding levels. They also have a constitutional obligation to give specifics on the new and lower cost of sound basic education. To study with Professor Rebell must be an absolute pleasure and incentive for any student of education
In addition to taking Professor Rebell’s courses3 TC students have an opportunity to observe the activities of The Campaign for Education Equity4, a policy research advocacy organization, led by Prof. Rebell. The organization currently is working with Prof. Nancy Streim to develop a full range of comprehensive services for students at the Teachers College Community School and other schools in TC’s partnership network, and is discussing with city officials possible ways to initiate projects to provide these services on a large scale basis to students in New York City schools. The campaign runs numerous projects, conferences, and panel discussions5 that aim to further explore the meaning of comprehensive educational opportunity and how to provide it, even in hard economic times like the present. The Campaign has also initiated a project that seeks to
efficiency, cost effectiveness in times of fiscal constraint, and develop a new methodology for determining the actual cost of providing a sound basic education. Finally, they make sure that the results of their research are widely disseminated and reach statewide policy, advocacy, parent, and educational organizations.6 There is a lot to learn from Professor Rebell’s experiences. The true value comes with the human touch attached to his accomplishments. He cares about school funding, but at the same time he stresses that, in his opinion, what matters most are well-qualified teachers. He envisions his students excelling not only academically but also becoming skilled in applying theory to practice and being passionate about pursuing social reforms through serious research analysis and social involvement. ______________ 1 Please refer to the Campaign for Fiscal Equity website at http:// cfequity.org/ for more detailed description of the case CFE v. State of New York. 2 You can read the whole article in NYSBA Government, Law & Policy Journal, Summer 2011, vol. 13, No1) 3 He presently teaches, Comprehensive Education Opportunity and the Education Policy Making and the Courts. 4 CEE website http://equitycampaign.org/ 5 See, for example, Making New York City’s Public Schools Broader, Bolder, and More Equitable. A joint CEE/BBA education policy event on March 27. A panel discussion on changes to promote an equitable and comprehensive approach to education with Pedro Noguera, Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education, Steinhart School of Education, Culture, and Human Development, NYU, and co-chair, BBA, Michael Rebell, Executive Director, Campaign for Educational Equity and Professor of Law and Educational Practice, TC, Columbia University, Scott Stringer, Manhattan Borough President and Shael Suransky, Deputy Chancellor, New York City Department of Education 6 For more information check the summary of the project at : http://equitycampaign.org/index.asp? Id=PROGRAMS&Info=Safeguarding+Sound+Bas ic+Education+Project
with a cause policy and education law. Using the example of CFE v. State of New York, and a variety of other cases, he talks about the larger issues of the role of the courts in educational policy making. Should courts be taking on these kind of cases? How does policy making by courts differ from policy making by legislatures and executive agencies? How can the three branches better co-ordinate their policy making approaches? His course on comprehensive educational opportunity probes the issue of what is a “sound basic education” for students from poverty backgrounds and do we need to expand our understanding of what schools, working with other government agencies and community based organizations, can provide.
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“safeguard” the constitutional right to a sound basic education that the courts upheld in the CFE v State of New York case. The project aims to develop a constitutional theory for protecting student rights in hard economic times, analyze the impact of current budget cuts, and provide recommendations for promoting cost-efficiency and ensuring that all students are provided the opportunity for a sound basic education. CEE researchers are visiting a number of high need city and state schools to see the impact that the state freeze and cuts have on children rights for the sound basic education. They work with experts to define the operational requirements for meeting state standards and developing citizenship skills. They examine cost
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SUMMER 2012 COURSE
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Spring 2012
FALL 2012 COURSE
Public Sector Structural Reform in K-12 Education As you begin thinking about classes for next year, some of you (with the permission of your program advisor) might want to apply to be part of an exciting year-long course for students interested in K-12 education policy, publicsector organizational change across a number of domains, and a class of domestic and international reforms known as Democratic Experimentalism. The course provides interdisciplinary teams of students from Teachers College, the Business and Law Schools, and the School of International and Public Affairs, with structured experiential-learning opportunities and ways to explore new career options through supervised consulting projects for public sector organizations engaged in K-12 education. Project work takes place in cross-disciplinary teams of four to six students under the leadership of an experienced Engagement Manager. In addition to experiential learning, the course (which is described in more detail in the attached Description) intersperses the theoretical frame of Democratic Experimentalism with seminar style discussions of the full range of organizational change occurring in U.S. K-12 education, as well as in other public problemsolving regimes worldwide, including in such domains as environmental regulation, child-welfare services, juvenile justice and food safety. We also help students develop a set of problem-solving and transactional skills, including interviewing, presentation, team building, and business analysis.
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Admission to the course is by application, due May 1, 2012, and is only an option for students who would be enrolled for the entire coming Academic Year. Send applications to Kate Alcorn – kate.alcorn@law.columbia.edu. If you’d like to see the syllabus for each course or have any questions, please let me know. I can be reached at wohlstetter@tc.edu. I hope you will consider applying to take part in this exciting venture. Sincerely,
Priscilla (Penny) Wohlstetter Teachers College, Columbia
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Spring 2012
EPSA Student Travel Reimbursement
Awards
Bianca Baldridge, Sociology & Education (Doctoral) American Educational Research Association Engaging Black Male Youth Within Community-Based Educational Spaces
All EPSA students are eligible to apply for reimbursement of expenses incurred while attending a national or international professional conference at which they are presenting, up to a maximum of $400 each. These awards are limited and competitive. Congratulations to our Spring 2012 recipients! We know that you will represent us well.
Travis Bristol, Leadership, Policy and Politics (Doctoral)
Mehmet Dincer, Economics & Education (Doctoral)
Xin Gong, Economics & Education (Doctoral)
American Educational Research Association
Association for Education Finance & Policy
Comparative & International Education Society
Teacher Selection and Effectiveness in Turkey
Household Income and Preschool Attendance in Rural China
Teaching Boys: Toward a Theory of Gender Relevant Pedagogy
Fei Guo, Economics & Education (Doctoral)
Jihye Kim, Economics & Education (Doctoral)
Comparative & International Education Society
Association for Education Finance & Policy
The Brain-Drain Effect of HighlyEducated People on the Economic Growth of Sending Country
Does Horizontal Mismatch Matter in Education-Job Mismatch?: A Quantile Regression Approach
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Spring 2012
Jiyun Lee, Economics & Education (Doctoral) American Educational Research Association Does Attending Elite High School Have an Impact on Student’s Academic Achievement?
Jonah Liebert, Politics & Education (Doctoral) Midwest Political Science Association
Charter School Policy and Democratic Responsiveness
Allison Roda, Sociology & Education (Doctoral) American Educational Research Association Distinguishing Where Their Children Belong: Parent’s Perceptions of the Boundaries Separating “Gifted” and “Non-Gifted” Educational Programs
Maria Otero, Sociology & Education (Master’s) American Educational Research Association Neighborhoods, Families, and Children’s School Readiness
Rachel Rosen, Leadership, Policy and Politics (Doctoral) Association for Education Finance and Policy The Costs to the Taxpayer and Society of “Opportunity Youth”
Megan Silander, Leadership, Policy and Politics (Doctoral)
Steve Simpson, Economics & Education (Doctoral)
Barbara Tanner, Leadership, Policy and Politics (Doctoral)
American Educational Research Association
Association of Education Finance & Policy
American Educational Research Association
Bolder Action? School Closure in New York City
A (Junior) College By Any Other Name: Returns to School Reputation in Taiwan’s Higher Education Market
The Effects of Teacher Turnover on School Organization
Terrenda White, Sociology & Education (Doctoral)
Di Xu, Economics & Education (Doctoral)
You You, Economics & Education (Doctoral)
American Educational Research Association
Association for Education Finance and Policy
Association for Education Finance and Policy
No Longer Stranded: Finding Community and Compassion in a Doctoral Writing Group for Students of Color
The Effects of Part-Time Adjunct Instructors in Community Colleges: Addressing Selection Bias Using Instrumental Variable Strategy
Using the Timing Variation in State Legislation to Estimate the Effect of New-Teacher Induction Programs on Teacher Turnover
Izumi Yamasaki, Economics & Education (Doctoral)
Comparative & International Education Society The Effect of Education on Earnings in the Informal Sector in South Africa
Haogen Yao, Economics & Education (Doctoral) Association for Education Finance and Policy National Replication vs. Regional Replication: How Reliable is the OLS-Based Evidence of College Wage Premium?
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What are you reading right now? The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in an Age of Colorblindness
Someone Has to Fail: The zero-sum game of public schooling David F. Labaree (Harvard University Press, 2010)
Michelle Alexander (The New Press, 2012)
Aaron Pallas
Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty
Jay Heubert
Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, (New York: Crown Business, 2012)
Research on Schools, Neighborhoods, and Communities William F. Tate, IV, editor (AERA/Rowman & Littlefield, 2012)
Although I differ from some of its analysis and conclusions, it is an incredibly intelligent and well-written book and I highly recommend it.
A Cord of Three Strands: A New Approach to Parent Engagement in the Schools
Francisco Rivera-Batiz
Jeffrey Henig
Soo Hong (Harvard Education Press, 2011)
Zeitoun
Michael Rebell
Dave Eggers ( McSweeney’s Books, 2009)
Gosia Kolb Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010
The Caging of America: Why do we lock up so many people?
Logics of History: Social Theory and Social Transformation
Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker Online, January 30, 2012 http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics atlarge/2012/01/30/120130crat_atlarge_gopnik
William H. Sewell, Jr. ( University of Chicago Press, 2005)
Charles Murray, (New York: Crown Publishing Group, 2012)
Sherene Alexander
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The best article that I have read in the last several months which raises serious questions about incarceration, the why, the how, and the alternatives. It made me upset, but with a better understanding of the issues and what might be done.
Henry Levin
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Spring 2012
Carolyn Riehl
Stay Connected All current students, alumni, faculty, and staff of EPSA are invited to submit essays, book reviews, professional updates, special events, and information of interest for possible inclusion in The EPSA-logue
The EPSA-logue is published once per semester, Autumn, Spring, and Summer. The deadlines for submission to The EPSA-logue are as follows: October 15th for the Autumn publication March 15th for the Spring publication July 15th for the Summer publication
To submit, please e-mail: epsa@tc.columbia.edu and include EPSA-logue in the subject line. Are you interested in supporting the new department? There are a number of ways to stay involved and provide support.
Please keep us in mind if you’d like to promote/advertise jobs, internships, and research opportunities for current students and graduates. We have also established the EPSA General Gift Fund to support EPSA educational and research activities. If you’d like to make a donation, please make a check payable to Teachers College and write EPSA General Gift fund in the memo section and your accompanying note. Contact us for more information. E-mail: epsa@tc.columbia.edu or phone: (212) 678-3165 The EPSA-logue
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April
What’s Next?
4/20, Open House, Newly admitted students for 2012-2013
4/26, Dr. Russell Rumberger, University of California-Santa Barbara Guest Lecturer, “Dropping Out: Why Students Drop Out and What Can Be Done About It” (12:00-1:30pm, 179 Grace Dodge Hall) 4/27, EPSA “Spring Social” for newly admitted and continuing students, faculty, and staff (4:00-6:00pm, 229 Thompson Hall)
May 5/8, Last day of Spring 2012 classes 5/15, Teachers College Master’s degrees Convocation 5/16, Columbia University Commencement (All colleges within the University) EPSA Graduation Reception, 12:00-2:00pm, 212-C Zankel Building
June Check the website for this month’s events: http://www.tc.columbia.edu/epsa
July Check the website for this month’s events: http://www.tc.columbia.edu/epsa
BOX 11, 525 WEST 120TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10027 -6696 PHONE (212) 678-3165 ● FAX (212)678-3589 ● E-MAIL: EPSA@TC.COLUMBIA.EDU HTTP://WWW.TC.COLUMBIA.EDU/EPSA
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