Ed. Magazine, Fall 2010

Ed.

the magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education Fall 2010 | vol. LiV, no. 1

Have things changed for gay students?

visionary

Today’s younger principals

Ed.

The Magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education | fall 2010 | vol. lIV, no. 1

Long Way to Go

24

The don’t ask, don’t tell policy is being reviewed.

Gay marriage is allowed in five states. More and more television shows feature gay characters.

Are schools in the United States also more welcoming for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students?

features

16

Cane, Able In 1975, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act was enacted, explicitly stating that children with disabilities were entitled to receive the same public education as nondisabled students. How one blind student — and eventual teacher — fared in public school more than two decades before the legislation was passed.

Modern Age They have less teaching experience but greater responsibility. Today’s crop of younger principals talks about whether or not age has anything to do with being an effective school leader.

30

departments 3 Dean’s Perspective

10

4 Letters 6 The Appian Way

36

36 In the Media 42 Alumni News and Notes 48 Recess

48

Stay plugged in

stories and links found only online

34

events

www.gse.harvard.edu The school’s newly renovated Larsen classrooms were recognized in July by the United States Green Building Council as the first LEED-CI Platinum classrooms in the world.

Conferences. Askwiths. Deadlines. Don’t miss a thing. www.gse.harvard.edu/news_events/events

twitter

We tweet. You follow. So simple. www.twitter.com/hgse

facebook We’re the Facebook friend approved by your boss. www.facebook.com/HarvardEducation

Change is good! So it’s a good thing that the school’s website is getting a new look and new features. Watch for the debut later this fall.

youtube Yup, we have a YouTube channel! www.youtube.com/HarvardEducation

flickr Photos that capture the school. www.flickr.com/photos/harvardeducation Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

1

Ed. The Magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education

senior writer/editor Lory Hough lory_hough@harvard.edu production manager/editor Marin Jorgensen marin_jorgensen@harvard.edu designer Paula Telch Cooney paula_telch@harvard.edu Director of Communications Michael Rodman michael_rodman@harvard.edu Communications intern Jazmin Brooks contributing writers Roanne Bosch, Ed.M.’08 Jazmin Brooks Judah Leblang Amy Magin Wong Josh Moss Matt Shapiro, Ed.M.’10 photographers Jill Anderson Mark Morelli Tanit Sakakini Martha Stewart illustrators Jeff Hopkins, Ed.M.’05 Sandra Dionisi Michael Klein copyeditor Abigail Mieko Vargus © 2010 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Ed. magazine is published three times a year, free of charge, for alumni, faculty, students, and friends of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

This issue is No. 1 of Vol. LIV, Fall 2010. Third-class postage paid at Burlington, VT and additional offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Harvard Graduate School of Education Office of Communications 44R Brattle Street Cambridge, MA 02138 www.gse.harvard.edu To read Ed. online, go to www.gse.harvard.edu/ed.

2

PULLING BACK THE COVER

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t

k

l

m

n

o

p

q

u

v

w

x

y

z

Capital Sign

r

s

Number Sign Period

t

Comma

u v w x y Z # d a a ll # a

The six dots of the braille cell are arranged and numbered:

1 2 3

4 5 6

The capital sign, dot 6, placed before a letter makes a capital letter.

6

1 The number sign, dots 3, 4, 5, 6, placed 2 before the characters a through j, makes 3 the numbers 1 through 0. For example: a preceded by the number sign is 1, b is 2, etc.

4 5 6

information provided by the National Braille Press inc.

Dot Dilemma When we decided to use braille on the cover of this issue of the magazine, we had no idea how much back and forth there would be between our office, Ed alum and cover story star David Ticchi, our printer in Vermont, and the National Braille Press, a nonprofit publisher located in Boston that had agreed to emboss the braille dots onto the cover. Knowing that books have been printed in braille since the late 1820s, we thought: How hard would one cover be?

But the questions flew back and forth for days: Is there a standard size braille font? Does it matter if we capitalize letters or bold them? Will 100 lb. text paper “hold” the dots or do we need to use something heavier? Will the dots get crushed once the magazine gets bound — something both printers feared could happen?

Some of the questions were easier to answer than others.

E di tor ’s N ot e : Yes, explained Diane Croft, Ed.M.’81, vice president of Confused about the cover? publishing for National Braille Press, there is a standard Feel like you’re in the dark? size braille “cell,” with each dot measuring 0.02 inches.

That was part of our thinking as And yes, cell attributes — bold and capital, for example — we brainstormed how to design do matter. A test run on the braille press showed us that the cover. So often, people with the raised dots came out fine on the paper we normally disabilities are not considered use for our covers. The harder question — would the dots when choices are made. We get crushed during the binding process — had us debating thought we’d turn the tables on for days whether or not to attempt braille on a standard our readers. And since we know magazine cover, something, apparently, that is rarely done. you’re curious, the headline on In the spirit of leaders like David Ticchi, who has never the cover says visionary. taken the easy road, we decided to take a chance. With fingers crossed, we await the answer!

dean’s perspective Dear Friends: This issue of Ed. celebrates the 35th anniversary of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (later renamed Individuals with Disabilities Act, or IDEA) — a piece of legislation that advocate Stephen Luke, Ed.D.’03, calls “a game-changer for children with disabilities.” In her commemorative article, author Lory Hough frames the history of IDEA and its ongoing significance for students through the life of David Ticchi, Ed.M.’69, C.A.S.’71, Ed.D.’76, an Ed School alumnus and one of the first blind teachers in Massachusetts. Through Ticchi’s compelling story we see the critical importance of mandating equal education opportunities for all.

jonesfoto

IDEA has certainly provided a foundation for equal treatment under the law for students with disabilities, but changing cultural norms and attitudes in some of our nation’s schools remains a struggle. Professor Tom Hehir cites “ableism,” or discrimination based on physical ability, as a barrier to all students’ learning, not just those with special needs.

Although Ticchi’s academic success and perserverance eventually earned him a B.A. from Holy Cross and an Ed.M. and Ed.D. from the Ed School, as a high school student, he was advised to aspire to become a fruit seller in a subway station — not an academic or a teacher.

Too often students are faced with low expecatations that can limit their achievement. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has called for students with disabilities to graduate from high school ready for college and a career, just like their peers, as part of an education strategy that promotes inclusiveness and asks teachers to be prepared to adequately address the needs of all students. With 54 million Americans currently living with disabilities, the success of our democracy depends on our collective ability to educate students across a spectrum of learning needs. As one of Ticchi’s junior high school students once wrote, “Maybe if we give people a chance, they just might jump out and shock us.”

Sincerely,

Kathleen McCartney July 2010

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

3

Motivation Last night I picked up the issue highlighting “Outside Chance” (summer 2010) and I have to admit I was brought to tears. I graduated from HGSE in 2007 and since then have tried to find a way to get more involved with the Harvard Alumni Association but, quite frankly, I did not see a connection between the work that gets done in Los Angeles and my personal mission in life — until now! I realize that I need to take the same approach I have taken in life, the approach that got me to Harvard and earned me a master’s in education policy. This publication helped get me to where I need to be — more involved with the Southern California Harvard Alumni and pushing them to do the work that needs to get done in the marginalized communities that need it most.

Great article on the prison life and those affected by it. Very inspiring and motivating for those who have made it through with the support, trust, and mentoring from staff and students offering an alternative to prison life. Congratulations, Noel Gomez, on a job well done. May your example be made by more to transform many.

Lessons From and For China “One and Only” (summer 2010) kept me engaged and eager to learn more about the focus topic. I found myself wondering how this policy could affect America. If only America could prioritize education in the way that the Chinese see educational importance, would this change our economy? Would the effects be positive? With healthcare and social security [that China is in need of] that we have as a safety net, there would not be pressure on children. If we set a generation-long goal of changing how our population perceives education, would we — could we — have a nation full of scholars by 2020? I wonder if we began changing one city at a time, then one state, then the nation, stressing the importance of education to children and even, in many sad cases, their own parents, could we create ambassadors for education, which would improve the livelihood of generations to come? Would this domino effect of educational importance sculpt into what could be … a Perfect America?

Jeanette Padilla

Celyse Drew-Robinson

Llanet Martin, Ed.M.’07

4

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

China’s one-child policy is understandable with the country struggling to increase production of consumer goods and to feed a booming population. Although it was intended to bring about a decline in population and better living standards, even the “positive effects” of the policy are not decisively positive. The policy has laid a huge burden on the future generation to sustain their family after retirement.

Teaching children at the tender age of two to learn might produce a prodigy before the teens but is absolutely unnecessary.

China can help its people by schemes that include reusing and recycling waste.

Undoubtedly, despite growing pressures on arable land the world over, food chains and restaurants are still throwing away excess food. By checking such wasteful practices, it is possible to achieve China’s intended sustenance.

Shawn Mathew Kailath

As a the only child of my family, I sometimes feel lonely and stressful, but in most cases, I feel very lucky to be on my own.

Xin Zhang

This is a wonderful article that inspires me to think more. As a member of the singleton generation in China, I’ve totally experienced the same growth process.

Something I came to realize in recent years is that parents of singletons will never let them go. My personal story,

leigh Wells

ed carréon

letters

place the appropriate flag on a stick. The game was to learn not only where countries or states were, but also the names and locations of their capitals. All of this was learned before the child would read. My two children had an early awareness of the world and, as preschool people, knew more geography than most adults today. The knowledge stuck and is recalled as fun.

Nan

I Spy a Fan I knew Jean Marzollo’s work (“One-onOne,” summer 2010) before I knew Jean.

I came to know Jean when her nephew married my daughter. I have come to treasure Jean as I watch her enchant my two grandsons, her grandnephews. Her work is remarkably cerebral and playful all at once.

Peggy Williams, Ed.D.’83 President emerita , Ithaca College

Ann Marvin, Ed.M.’56

Pay Perspective In reference to pay for performance in the dean’s perspective, (winter 2010), “We just haven’t figured out yet how to reward high-performing teachers.” Really? You reward high-performing teachers as you would reward any valued professional — with higher pay and more responsibility within the organization, including mentoring those new to the profession. I thought the difficulty was in identifying the high-performing teachers — by what common standards? Student test scores?

Peer review? Administrator’s evaluation?

Classroom visits?

james yang

Odds & Ends (original) ©1982 Walter Wick

Gay Wagner

On the Map In the summer edition (2010), an article was featured called “Map Quest” by Lory Hough. The idea of having large maps that children can walk on is not new. My children, now 50 and 48, walked [on] and learned from large maps when they went to a Montessori school at two and three years of age. Maureen Coughlin was the director of the school in Milton, Mass.

She purchased her teaching tools from the Montessori supplies system. On the windowsill were many flags on sticks. The huge maps had holes where a child could

skills and a capacity for learning that will serve them well over the course of a lifetime. As educators, we must work together to resist the “teaching to the test” movement. We must continue to make the case for creative and diverse approaches to learning that help students develop as critical thinkers, with curiosity and enthusiasm for learning as well as a commitment to social responsibility — at all levels of education. trent campbell

and ones heard from my friends, is that parents will continue to play an influencing role even after their child’s formal schooling. They still feel responsible when it comes to decisionmaking about their child’s career selection, dating mate choice, and even child rearing decisions.

Joel Poholsky, Ed.M.’84

Right on the Article Thank you for the informative and timely article, “Right on the Money” (winter 2010) about the pay for performance movement in K–12 education. The issues of most-effective teaching and incentive strategies extend beyond K–12 to the world of higher education. Colleges and universities have a vital interest in these matters as we are not interested in admitting students who have been taught “to the test” and who bring this expectation to the college setting. Rather we endeavor to admit high school graduates who are interested in developing intellectual

Ed. magazine welcomes correspondence from all of its readers.

Send letters to:

Ed. magazine Letters to the Editor Harvard Graduate School of Education Office of Communications 44R Brattle Street Cambridge, MA 02138 E-mail: letters@gse.harvard.edu Online Comments: www.gse.harvard.edu/ed Please note that letters may be edited for clarity and space.

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

5

mark morelli

the appian way

Name: Bob Peterkin Title: professor emeritus, former director of the Urban Superintendents Program Focus: saying goodbye

“We wanted to radiate out the influence for underserved kids.

We did that. I feel good about it.”

Goodbye and All That Jazz

By Lory Hough

6

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

When Bob Peterkin took over the Urban Superintendents Program (USP) in 1991, a year after it began, he knew the program had a lot of work to do. At the time, only about 5 percent of the nation’s superintendents were female, and even fewer — just 1 percent — were people of color. A former superintendent himself, Peterkin wanted to change that. “My old joke was, ‘There’s nothing wrong with the old boys’ network. We just weren’t in it,’” he says. And the program did help. Within 15 years, the percentage of female superintendents shot to 21; the percentage of people of color jumped to six. But Peterkin wasn’t content with just boosting numbers: He wanted to ensure that every student coming out of the program was as prepared as possible to make a difference. Now, with the program officially ending as the school’s new doctor of education leadership degree (Ed.L.D.) begins, Peterkin says goodbye — mostly — to the school he has called home for nearly two decades. In April, he spoke to Ed. magazine about what they accomplished, signs of a good superintendent, and how an ever-growing record collection will make easing into retirement less difficult.

Do you think the Urban Superintendents Program did what it set out to do?

One of our missions was to increase the pool of women and people of color. These stats, while modest, are staggering for a school of our size, especially if you count the number of kids in the school districts where we’ve had superintendents.

We wanted to radiate out the influence for underserved kids.

We did that. I feel good about it.

Cohorts seem really integral to the program. Why? Just to get through this program, you can’t do it alone, and there’s no reason to do it alone. Plus, you need that network, that connection, once you leave here. If one of our students goes off to become the chancellor of New York City or superintendent of Baltimore or Philadelphia, his or her cohort-mates will be there for a phone call or, increasingly, to fly in and help.

It seems like USP graduates jump into top leadership jobs really quickly.

One of the reasons our graduates are in such high positions so early is that the superintendents who hire them know they have a certain skill set. Plus we are quality control. We never sent anyone out there who couldn’t hack it.

You’ve had almost two decades to think about this: What makes a good superintendent?

First, someone has to commit to a vision of equitable education for all. And I mean a real commitment, like I’m willing to get fired over this. The second is theory of change. It’s not enough to talk a good game and inspire a community. You

have to have the wherewithal to get it done. Both of these take the third.

Which is?

Courage.

You haven’t mentioned charisma. Isn’t that critical for leadership?

In America, being a charismatic leader only gets you so far.

But I can name lots of leaders who are not necessarily charismatic but have led amazing change.

How would you have benefited from a program like this?

I was in Boston for 10 years. I went from principal to area superintendent to budget director to three types of deputy superintendent, so I was up close to the superintendency, but I never got training in how to communicate a vision. I had a strong vision, but it was hard for me to articulate it to the community and convince them that they should follow.

The internship would also have been invaluable. With an internship, when you make a mistake, it’s okay. As a deputy or superintendent, it’s not okay.

Are you really retiring?

From the school. It’s time. It’s been a good long run, but the program has evolved into the Ed.L.D. degree. And it’s time for me to do the ad hoc things that I’ve always wanted to do.

I’ll be working closely with 15 superintendents in New Jersey and on a Harvard project in Soweto, South Africa. I’m going to mentor principals in Boston, including at English High School, where I was once the principal. And I’m part of a team that is finishing a book of case studies on leadership that we hope practitioners will use. Our goal is to be number one on Amazon for a day.

And your USP students?

My students are becoming superintendents all over the country and they want me to help them. This is the next level.

It’s like the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon character says: The mentor should want the protégée to be more. That would make me very happy.

What will you miss?

I’ll seriously miss my students who have become my colleagues and friends. A lot of organizations claim this, but we really were — are — a family. And the faculty cares what happens to USP students. At the celebration party in April, you should have seen the hugging. I’ll miss that on a daily basis. But I have a huge CD collection of jazz and at least 5,000 records. And there are at least 10 jazz clubs in this area.

I’ll be fine.

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

7

the appian way STUDENT impact

5

Reasons to Know ...

Uche Amaechi

doctoral student Culture, Communities, and Education Concentration

He initially intended to become a medical doctor. He even started down the pre-med path at Harvard College, graduating with a degree in biology. But after a couple of summers teaching in Cambridge, Mass., Uche Amaechi was hooked. Following graduation, he went back to the classroom to help run several afterschool programs, including one at the Fletcher Maynard Academy, a public school in Cambridge where he now serves as the extended day director. Today, this Nigerian-born doctoral student is combining his work with children with his initial love of science as part of Associate Professor Mica Pollock’s OneVille research project based in neighboring Somerville.

martha stewart

1 2 3 4 5

8

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

His interest in working with children, especially the underserved, started early. Growing up with a single mother who is a nurse, he helped take care of his younger siblings. “This is part of the reason I now want to give back,” he says.

Although much of his school-based work has focused on afterschool programs, along with a group of other afterschool program providers, he is working on ways to connect extended day with the regular day. “There doesn’t need to be a divide.”

Working with Pollock, he is exploring how to use social technology, such as wikis, to allow everyone involved in a young person’s life — teachers, parents, coaches, and mentors — to communicate regularly about the student.

Volunteering is important to him. For the past six years, he’s been a board member of the Science Club for Girls, a nonprofit that motivates girls to become interested in science. He’s also cochair of CityStep, a partnership between Harvard and the city of Cambridge that offers performing arts year-round to students.

When he’s not in a classroom, he’s on the dance floor. A few years ago, after a friend brought him to a salsa club in Boston for the first time, he started teaching the rhythmic dance at a nightclub, the Ed School, and Harvard’s Currier House, where he serves as a nonresident tutor. Tango has become his latest passion.

Stir the Pot By Matt Shapiro, Ed.M.’10

Observant Student

In light of these experiences, you might ask yourself, “Why stir the pot?”

After all, opinions are stubborn things, and even the most cogent op-ed is much more likely to evoke the ire of the opposition than change anyone’s mind.

Besides, these issues are already being debated by policymakers, politicians, and parents. Surely whatever flavor I add to the mix will be lost within the myriad other ingredients already crowding the pot.

One op-ed certainly will not change the world, but my opinion draws from my unique experience, and therefore I can provide new insight into an ongoing debate; I can enter the conversation with the voice of a teacher. As a teacher, I am keenly aware of classroom issues — like Wikipedia usage — that are too small for policymakers and too classroom-specific for parents. And when teachers write about these issues, it gets teachers talking.

I rescued my op-ed from the online void by sending it to my former department head. He replied by saying, “Do you mind if I post this? I think it could spark some good debate.” I was ecstatic. The impetus to write the op-ed came from my concern over some of my former colleagues’ attitudes toward Wikipedia.

Now, because I stirred the pot, that policy might actually be reviewed.

Stirring the pot can be a dangerous affair, but if you care about an issue, it ultimately will be a rewarding endeavor. People will disagree with you, sometimes vehemently, but that’s exactly the point.

When we as educators put our opinions out in the open for everyone to see, we spark debate on a topic that might otherwise be lost in the stew. The debate may be relegated to your own school, but at least you’ve been heard. My op-ed may not have changed a lot of minds, but perhaps it changed the one mind that inspired me to write the piece. jeff Hopkins, ed.m.’05 betsy anderson

Although Nancy Sommers’ brilliant course, Teachers as Writers, is foremost a class on how to develop your writing through the creative essay, the entire class was required last semester to write an op-ed and then try to get it published. Since the op-ed is a markedly different assignment than the essay, Sommers felt the need to convince the class of the assignment’s merits. “If you get published, then you get your opinion out there,” she said. “This is your chance to stir the pot.”

Since every student in the class had a different background, we all chose different pots that we felt needed stirring. One student wrote an entreaty to her home state, imploring state officials to resist their seemingly reflexive urge to once again cut funding for By the arts. I chose to write about the use Wikipedia in the classroom, LoryofHough and more generally on the new research challenges today’s media presents to students. Regardless of our topic, we were all inspired to write about something that mattered to us — something from our experience as students or teachers that we felt needed to be addressed. If you’re going to stir the pot, then you better stir it with feeling.

Many of my classmates were fortunate enough to get their pieces published; however, the results were often less glamorous than we had hoped. The classmate who wrote about arts education realized the repercussions of stirring a pot close to the boiling point. “Maybe we should teach kids math before we teach them how to draw,” was one of the many negative comments she received from readers. My article was published online in Education Week, but to read the piece required a subscription, which neither myself nor my classmates had. I wanted my voice to be heard, but after being published, I felt like I was shouting from some unknown location deep in cyberspace.

— Matt Shapiro graduated in May of this year. Before earning his degree, he taught science at the middle and high school levels in New York City and Concord, Mass.

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

9

the appian way A TO B: Why I Got into Education

Like my father and his father, I am a teacher, but teaching was never something I imagined I would end up doing. While it was an esteemed profession for my grandfather and an acceptable one for my father, for me, teaching was never the important work that dreams were made of. I began my time as a Teach For America (TFA) corps member in New Orleans thinking I could do this work for two years while I decided what I really wanted to do with my life. Teaching was good service. It would look good on the resume. But it was not the stuff of dreams.

Yet no words or pictures could have prepared me for the extreme racial segregation of the schools and the poverty and hopelessness I found in New Orleans. It was determined by the TFA staff that I would become a teacher in one of the poorest performing schools in the poorest performing district in a state consistently at the bottom of any ranking of state educational quality in the United States. And I, a newly minted bachelor of science in environmental studies and biology, would teach high school English. But this arrangement was temporary, so, with little time to think, I jumped in.

One afternoon that first December, a grandmother of one of my 10th-graders stopped by at the end of the day to talk about her granddaughter’s absences. We sat together on the school steps and talked about make-up work. Mid-sentence, she stopped. When she spoke again, her words came louder and faster. She started going on about how great it was that a white girl like me would come down South to try to put some sense in the heads of these poor ignorant black kids.

Surprised, I tripped over my explanations: That’s not what I was doing. … That’s not who these kids are. … education … it’s … I had no good answer for her, and she wouldn’t have my stuttering. No, she insisted, clinging to her characterization of me and of my students, I was doing good work, and I would show these kids how what they knew was not going to get them anywhere. I didn’t understand what she was saying. I certainly had no response.

But as I walked up the crumbling concrete steps back into the school after our conversation, stepping over crushed milk cartons and candy wrappers, some understanding of her words started to take hold. Months after coming into a school with broken windows patched by cardboard and too few desks for too many students, I understood that my student’s grandmother saw this place as a way out, and she saw me holding some portion of her granddaughter’s future in my hands. In all my stumbling as a new teacher, I was not the only one chasing dreams.

10

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

jeff Hopkins, ed.m.’05

A Way In By Roanne Bosch, Ed.M.’08

My father came to teaching to pay the bills. He clung to his graduate school texts and animal traps as if they contained his dream of becoming a wildlife biologist who studied coyotes in the Adirondacks and wolves in Montana. Instead, he left graduate school and took a position, temporarily, as a teacher after my older brother was born, and has stayed now for 39 years. The profession, for him, cannot be separated from a narrative of unrealized dreams. While he is a capable and well-loved teacher, he has never spoken of teaching with anything approaching the passion with which he speaks about shifting coyote populations and global climate change. He understood my decision to join TFA as something temporary, as he understood his own decision to teach. It was a job.

My father’s books and traps filled an entire room of our western New York farmhouse. And my mother, who would have, somehow, changed the American food system, had dreams likewise subverted. The boxes of pamphlets and the Rolodexes of contacts filled corners, the props of her many failed attempts at self-employment. Our family of seven moved together through their possessions and memories.

The weight of their unrealized dreams could have taught me hopelessness. Instead, I had a way out from under that weight: I went to school. The calm routines soothed me.

School became a refuge where I learned that the world was mine and that I could dream my own dreams. The ideals of my parents’ lives became less relevant as I was shown that life decisions rest on a process of careful decisionmaking. You make a chart, even: The good that will come from a decision on one side, the bad on the other. You balance the two carefully and you decide, assured that the choice you make is the right one because you have the evidence of your chart to support it.

Which is why the hopelessness of New Orleans shocked me.

I do not mean that I had never heard of inequality or that I was unschooled in the Teach For America rhetoric of closing the achievement gap. I knew it so well that I could recite it in my sleep — which was likely part of the problem. I learned the talking points and the statistics, but I saw them as something else to discuss, to write about. Never something that I understood.

Only very slowly did I begin to see what my students were really up against. I thought I knew what it meant to have less.

But their school was not the refuge from hopelessness that my own school had been. While this immersion into the harsh realities of inequality was little more than a stopover for me, it was life for this grandmother, for her grandchild, for so many people that were not born white and middle class, born with the questionable luxury of being ignorant of the structural inequalities that are reality for so many people in our country.

This grandmother saw education as a way out and I, as both a teacher and an unwitting representative of the dominant culture, was to provide that way out.

So I left New Orleans eight years ago like I left other difficult situations before it and after it: I panicked. I panicked at my lack of preparation, at the hopelessness of the situation I found myself in. I opened the next doors: I went to graduate school. I worked for a government agency. I traveled. But my

conversation sitting on those steps that day in New Orleans altered my understanding of the world in ways that were slow to take root. Like my father, I can no longer separate the teaching profession from the narrative of unrealized dreams. Indeed, I cannot separate schools themselves from that narrative. I have come to understand that the very function of schools is dreaming, but I know now that it is not just my dreams on the line. As my students prepare for unknown futures, I participate in countless narratives of unrealized dreams.

My greatest hope now is that I will become a competent and, someday, excellent teacher of English, and that my students will leave my classroom better equipped for the world than when they came in. I want them to be better readers, stronger writers, critical thinkers. Really, though, I want them to see life as full of opportunity. This is the important work that I have been waiting for. Maybe dreams don’t have to be realized to be right. Maybe there isn’t, exactly, a way out.

Whatever the case, I think that teaching is my way in.

— While she was at the Ed School Roanne Bosch worked in an urban school in Boston that was similar to the one in New Orleans: The paint was peeling and the textbooks had seen better days. Today she teaches freshman English at Lexington High School, just outside of Boston.

WHAT THEY KEEP

What They Keep looks at something found in a faculty member’s office and the story behind it.

Part of Jewell-Sherman’s collection

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

jill anderson

It started with a poster. Just before senior lecturer and former Richmond, Va., superintendent Deborah Jewell-Sherman, Ed.M.’92, Ed.D.’95, applied to the Ed School to start her doctorate in the Urban Superintendents Program, she was reading a magazine for principals and saw a poster with a young child standing on a shore looking across the water into the distance. The caption read: If all children had a safe harbor, then none would be at risk.

She bought a copy and hung it in her office. From there, the lighthouse metaphor was born.

“I used the metaphor throughout my HGSE studies and during my superintendency,” she says, “to signify that all who lead the learning must serve as beacons to insure — by our collective wisdom, compassion, and action — that all students under our watch are afforded a safe harbor from which to learn, develop, and ultimately sail off to a bright and fulfilling future.”

In time, people started giving Jewell-Sherman lighthouse statues, which she displayed at home, in her office in Richmond, and now in her Harvard office.

“They come in many forms and are gifts from teachers, administrators, students, parents, and friends.” she says. “Each one serves to remind me of the life-changing impact of the work we are called to do as educators.”

11

the appian way

ap photo/d.gray

Skulls found in Phnom Penh, April 1981.

Authorities believe the victims were tied together by rope — seen in this photograph — before being executed.

Cambodia, Home

By Lory Hough

He owes his first name, and perhaps his life, to a German journalist. It was late April 1975, two weeks after the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh, the capitol of Cambodia. Under the order of Pol Pot, the city was being hastily evacuated.

Anyone who questioned the order, or begged to be left behind, was shot, as were intellectuals, writers, and artists. In time, the genocide claimed an estimated 1.7 million through execution, starvation, and disease.

Peter Tan Keo’s mother, a translator for the American Red Cross, was desperately trying to get out of her country.

Disguised as a Filipina, she quietly begged for a spot on a convoy filled with international journalists fleeing Cambodia for Thailand. A German journalist named Peter gave up his seat so that “my mom’s life could be spared,” says Keo, Ed.M.’07.

He says she counts her blessings every day.

Meanwhile, his father, a farm boy who won a scholarship in 1974 to study in the United States, tried to return home to help the country. During a brief stay in Paris while waiting

12

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

for his visa, he met Peter’s mother, who had made it to France and was working as a waitress. She, fortuitously, hid his passport. His friends continued on to Cambodia without him.

After one postcard from Beijing, none were ever heard from again. “She went on instinct alone, which saved my dad’s life,” Keo says.

His parents eventually settled in the United States, first in Philadelphia, then in Houston. The family never knew what became of the journalist. But today, Keo is paying him back, in a sense, by telling his own stories of Cambodia through films and documentaries.

“Growing up, my dad spent virtually every day talking about the importance of reinvesting human capital to rebuild the country,” Keo says. His parents also told their children to “think big and dream bigger.” So with his brother Paul, an actor and producer, he decided to start Stella Link Entertainment, a production company that entertains while also educating.

“It’s our firm belief that we can disseminate cold, hard facts to a critical mass without boring them to tears or using esoteric language often found in academic research and literature,” he says, adding that documentaries have a proven track record of success. “Think Michael Moore and all of his documentaries and every single movie you’ve seen that starts with facts and ends with a quote to change the world. That’s exactly what our film, Children After the Killing Fields, aspires to achieve.

Our hope is that people will be moved to action.”

The film, which begins with an Adolf Hitler quote, “He alone who owns the youth, gains the future,” focuses on an American doctoral student struggling to rescue two young girls from the sex trade. Keo wrote the screenplay and his brother produced it. Hollywood casting director Geno Havens helped with structure.

“I was frustrated by the lack of progress in Cambodia,” Keo says. “What frustrated us most was the subjection of human abuse of the worst form onto children. Young girls and boys were being sold for a few dollars to brothels, pimps, and mamasans. This wasn’t the Cambodia I remember hearing about, and it certainly wasn’t what my parents remember seeing. Something awful had changed.”

As they point out in the film, according to the U.S. Department of State, an estimated 800,000 people worldwide are trafficked across Cambodia every year for sexual exploitation. About 80 percent are women; 50 percent are under the age of 14.

Keo and his brother are hopeful that a studio will pick up the film this year. (One deal was in the works but fell through because of creative differences.) They are also working the film festival circuit and hope to eventually show it at Cannes and Sundance. They are also finishing two other documentaries, A Legacy of Hope, about a 30-year-old prostitute taken in by the Cambodian Women’s Crisis Center, and A Deadly Harvest, which follows the world’s first all-female landmine removal team working in Cambodia. With this last film, the brothers, both fluent in Cambodian and French, helped with translating. “That was half the battle,” Keo says.

Next Chapter While work on the films continues, Keo has gone back to his parents’ country to live and to focus on public policy. Most of his extended family there is gone. Aside from his parents, no

one was able to flee Cambodia. Distant cousins were forced into labor camps. Grandparents, uncles, and aunts were executed by the Khmer Rouge. Yet Keo says his heart and soul has always been deep within the country.

“I am nothing without an identity firmly attached to this small Southeast Asian nation, mired between Thailand and Vietnam,” he says. “My family and people have lost so much.

My entire life has been a constant struggle because of that loss, but it’s also a blessing. I have a sense of self, a sense of belonging.”

And he won’t really be alone. In April, he and Seng-Dao Yang, Ed.M.’07, whom he met at the Ed School, got married on the 35th anniversary of the Khmer Rouge invasion.

“I wanted to start a brand new chapter in my life without constantly being reminded of this tormented past,” he says of choosing that date. “Now my family and I can look back to that day as one of the most blessed days of our lives, the day I would marry my best friend, Seng-Dao.” Both are now working for the University of Cambodia.

Keo, vice president for international cooperation, is helping to build partnerships with other universities around the world.

He also teaches courses in education theory and international politics. Yang is director of their foundation and will teach courses on education theory and women’s leadership.

Keo is also advising the prime minister’s office. He is developing policies to improve the country’s social, economic, and political conditions and is making sure those policies are translated into real, grassroots action. When it comes to education, one area that he will focus on is how meeting basic needs is a necessary first step before tackling an issue like the achievement gap.

“In countries like Cambodia, the achievement gap is exacerbated by a quality-of-life gap,” he says. “That is, many Cambodians are struggling every day to make ends meet, and many make less than a dollar a day. While access to highquality education is important, so too are basic necessities like food, potable water, electricity, and shelter that many in America take for granted, even those living in poverty. For that reason, I decided to pack my bags and head off to the place I’ve always called home: Cambodia. The time for action is now.”

Go to www.stellalinkent.com to watch video clips of Keo’s movies.

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

13

the appian way CAMPUS BRIEFS

tanit sakakini

Long’s Hat Trick

Now This is the Story All About How My Life Got Flipped, Turned Upside Down

The Risk and Prevention Program has been renamed Prevention Science and Practice (PSP)/Counseling C.A.S. Although the curriculum and educational experience of students will not change, the new name, says program director Mandy Savitz-Romer, better reflects the integrated nature of the program and its mission to prepare graduates to improve the social, emotional, and academic outcomes of children and youth.

They say education can be disorienting. Recent graduate Jenny Schneider, Ed.M.’10, certainly thought so. To commemorate her time at the Ed School — and the education process that turned her life upside down — Schneider created “20 Headstands: A Year at Harvard.” The photo project saw Schneider doing headstands through the Harvard campus, including some particularly daring choices such as the median strip of Massachusetts Ave. To view the photos, visit www.gse.harvard.edu/ed/extras.

The GoodWork Team at Project Zero recently launched a GoodWork Toolkit website, as well as Facebook and Twitter pages to share information and build community around encouraging excellent, ethical, and engaging work. These web resources offer discussion around relevant news and research, regular blogs from faculty, Project Zero staff, and others, plus ways to connect with other scholars, practitioners, and parents interested in good work. Visit www.goodworktoolkit.org.

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

Laura Suval, Ed.m.’10

What’s In a Name?

Guiding GoodWork

14

Appointed by President Obama.

Confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Announced by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Not a bad couple of weeks for Professor Bridget Terry Long who, in late June, joined three other educators as the newest members of the National Board of Education Sciences, a 15-member advisory panel whose responsibilities include reviewing and approving the research priorities of the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.

Clinton Commissions Reimers

Bay State Blues

Professor Fernando Reimers was appointed by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to serve on the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO. Reimers will act as one of 30 representatives to the commission, which supports worldwide humanitarian development and values by coordinating efforts and delivering expert advice from the federal, state, and local governments and from nongovernmental organizations on issues of education, science, communications, and culture.

Though Massachusetts leads the nation on national standardized tests, new findings by Associate Professor Nonie Lesaux indicate that there is room for significant improvement. Her research revealed that 43 percent of Massachusetts third-graders read below grade level, which may lead to continued struggles in high school and puts them at significant risk of not graduating or contributing to the state’s knowledge-based economy.

To learn more about these briefs, go to www.gse.harvard.edu/ ed/extras.

Solid Foundation

Amy Magin Wong

In the very visible arena of public education reform, the decisionmakers directly involved — parents, teachers, superintendents, and politicians — are all recognized as the drivers when it comes to making change. But another group — nonprofit foundations — also exerts influence on the process and outcomes of reform efforts by supporting initiatives that lead to specific changes in the system.

For example, the Boston Foundation played a significant role in shaping Massachusetts’ recent education reform legislation, which will double the number of charter schools and equip superintendents with a broad new authority to intervene decisively in underperforming schools.

“We began supporting the charter schools eight to nine years ago,” says Paul Grogan, Ed.M.’79, president of the foundation, “when we developed the conviction that dramatic structural change was going to be necessary in Boston and other urban public school systems in order to generate broad improvement in the academic achievement of the mostly lowincome, minority students who populate these districts today.”

Grogan believes that because the parent constituency of inner-city schools is not politically powerful, foundations serve as necessary advocates for education reform, pushing for improvements and using their influence and resources on behalf of these families. He also praises charter schools as educational entrepreneurs, free to reimagine what it might take for broad improvement to occur.

“These schools allow educators — unencumbered by the way things have always been done — to develop flexible, innovative approaches,” he says. The result, according to Boston Foundation research, including work done in collaboration with Harvard Graduate School of Education Professor Tom Kane, shows that the charters are performing at a higher level than the regular public schools with the same population.

Innovative school transformation also has earned the support of the Eugene and Agnes Meyer Foundation in Washington, D.C., where 13 public schools are converting to

Because the parent constituency of innercity schools is not politically powerful, foundations serve as necessary advocates for education reform, pushing for improvements and using their influence and resources on behalf of these families.

theme-based curriculums as part of the DC Catalyst Project.

Each school, which will fully implement its new format in fall 2010, is refocusing its strategic design and content delivery by adopting one of three themes: STEM (science, technology, engineering, math), arts integration, and world cultures.

The Meyer Foundation is backing the initiative by investing in the DC Public Education Fund, an independent nonprofit working directly with the schools to develop the catalyst programs. Through the efforts of the fund, local nonprofit organizations participate as strategic partners.

“The organization must have the operating capacity and the internal infrastructure to partner with the public school system,” says Danielle Reyes, Ed.M.’01, program officer for the Meyer Foundation. “For example, the Washington Performing Arts Society, the Washington Institute for Dance, and Lifepieces to Masterpieces all work directly with [public schools in D.C.] to bring their own successful curriculums, which weave some level of art — dance, choir, painting, or musical instrument instruction — into the arts integration schools’ curriculum.”

However, providing financial support is only part of the Meyer Foundation’s involvement in local education reform efforts. Like many other foundations, it also serves as a strategic convener, organizing and hosting collaborations of nonprofits and funders to coordinate these grant-making opportunities.

Before these reform efforts even begin, foundations also generate awareness and enthusiasm. The Arizona Community Foundation, along with other organizations and businesses, pooled their resources to create Expect More Arizona, an advocacy group designed to raise the public’s expectations for its public schools. Based on the premise that a strong education system leads to the development of a more talented workforce and vibrant economy, the group has tried to build public support and make public education the state’s top priority.

Steve Seleznow, Ed.M.’89, Ed.D.’94, president and CEO of the Arizona Community Foundation, explains, “Through forums and public education campaigns, Expect More Arizona will help broaden the base of people who are interested in seeing policies passed to improve education throughout the state.”

But initially, Seleznow acknowledges, it is the generosity of donors with a genuine desire to improve education that makes reform possible.

“Our staff is constantly evaluating the best organizations that are making a difference for children,” he says, “and we then help donors identify the best high-impact investments in education. From services such as tutoring, mentoring, and college readiness programs to larger efforts to fundamentally reform a district — all is done through private foundations.”

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

15

C

Thirty-five years ago, legislation mandated that public schools had to provide a free, appropriate education for all children, including the disabled. One alum born legally blind shares his story as both a student and a teacher.

Able N E

By lory hough

Photography by tanit sakakini

T

hey didn’t have to take him. When David Ticchi’s parents approached

school administrators at the West Bridgewater Elementary School about enrolling their six-year-old son, the administrators legally could have said no.

It was 1951, and there were no laws on the books saying the town had to accept a blind child — or any disabled child for that matter.

There was, of course, some resistance and concern. But his parents pushed, says Ticchi, Ed.M.’69, C.A.S.’71, Ed.D.’76, in part because the only other option was to send him to the Perkins School for the Blind, located almost 40 miles to the north, just outside of Boston.

“I would have had to board there, which my parents didn’t want,” says Ticchi, who was born legally blind with limited vision — he could see some light and vague shapes. His parents wanted their son at home, plus he was another helping hand on their small farm.

Their pushing worked: Ticchi enrolled that fall in the town’s four-room schoolhouse. At times, he admits, it was difficult.

Recorded lessons were still in their infancy — reading David Copperfield involved listening to 42 thick records, he says. He also didn’t learn Braille, a language system of raised dots, until he was a teenager. (Someone had convinced his parents that it was passé, so he had to rely on teachers and other students to read to him during elementary and middle school.) Occasionally, kids would tease him. When he got older, he couldn’t drive a car like the other Ticchi as a young baseball player students. At dances it was hard to get around.

But something important also happened: Ticchi’s teachers set the academic bar as high for him as they did for every

18

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

vis

other student. He says that if he got three wrong on a test, he got three wrong. According to the National Association of Special Education Teachers, this was unusual. At the time, the few disabled students mainstreamed in public schools — no matter what their disability, physical or learning — were usually nudged toward manual work like bead stringing or weaving, not academics.

As a result, Ticchi got something from his public school that every child deserves: a great education.

It would be more than two decades before other disabled students would legally get the same chance.

By Law Much of the credit goes to parents, at least initially. Around the time that Ticchi started school, a parents’ rights movement was starting to build in America, writes Joseph Shapiro in No Pity, his book about disabilities and civil rights.

“As more children survived disability, more parents sought to keep them from being institutionalized,” he writes. Parents started key advocacy groups like the United Cerebral Palsy Association in 1948 and the Muscular Dystrophy Association in 1950. Parents also began lobbying Congress, which created the Bureau of Education of the Handicapped in 1966. A few years later, the bureau started providing funds for the training of special education teachers.

Other factors contributed to the rise in rights for disabled students. By the late 1950s, for example, Denmark was integrating students with disabilities into the broader community. “This represented a significant shift in societal attitudes toward people with disabilities,” says Stephen Luke, Ed.D.’03, director of the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities.

“The spirit of this approach soon resonated across Europe and the United States.” Also critical, Luke says, was the passage of several landmark civil rights acts in the United States during the 1960s, which, while not specifically for the disabled, actually made it illegal to discriminate against certain groups.

And then two pieces of legislation forever changed education and disability rights in America. The first was a provision that was quietly tacked on

sionary to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 saying it was against the law for groups receiving federal funds to discriminate against anyone “solely by reason of . . . handicap.” Known as Section 504, the wording in the provision “clearly was copied straight out of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ruled out discrimination in federal programs on the basis of race, color, or national origin,” writes Shapiro in No Pity. Surprisingly, there were no hearings held on this provision and it received little fanfare — at least at first.

“Members of Congress were either unaware of it or considered it ‘little more than a platitude’ for a sympathetic group,’” Shapiro writes, quoting sociologist Richard Scotch, who later studied the legislation. It didn’t take long, however, for politicians to realize the significance of what had just happened, especially when the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) estimated that compliance with the provision would cost billions. When signing of the bill was delayed, protests erupted, including a sit-in at the regional HEW office in San Francisco that garnered national media coverage.

Then in 1975, a second bill called the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA), or Public Law 94-142, was enacted. Where Section 504 was broad, protecting postal workers and highway construction crews as well as students and teachers, EHS was the first federal law that explicitly stated that children with disabilities aged 5 to 21 were entitled to receive a free, appropriate education. (Eleven years later, an amendment expanded the legislation to cover children aged 0 to 5.)

Professor Judith Singer, in a 1985 piece in Education Week marking the bill’s 10th anniversary, called it “a handicapped children’s Bill of Rights.” Shapiro says it was the disability movement’s “equivalent of Brown v. Board of Education.”

And Luke says it was this act (later renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Act, or IDEA) that made it clear that all students mattered.

“This legislation really stands out as the game-changer for children with disabilities,” he says. “Prior to 1975, children with disabilities were commonly excluded from public schools.” Many states even had laws prohibiting children with disabilities from public schools, he says. “With the passage of EHA, public schools were now mandated to provide a ‘free and appropriate public education’ with the ultimate goal of preparing students for positive postsecondary outcomes such as employment or postsecondary education.”

Several provisions in the law, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, were key, says Luke. One states that education has to be provided in the “least restrictive environment” — that is, in regular classrooms, as much as possible.

It was no longer enough for a school to isolate disabled students in special ed classes or pay to have a disabled child educated elsewhere.

Another provision also hugely expanded parental rights.

Parents got to see their children’s records, for example, and

became equal partners with the school staff in creating a written blueprint for their child called an Individualized Education Program, commonly referred to as an IEP. Included in the IEP would be an extensive evaluation and a set of measurable goals. Due process also allowed parents the right to appeal any decision.

Advocates hailed the legislation, despite potential price tag concerns. According to a 2000 policy paper by the Brookings Institution, early supporters believed the number of students requiring extensive, and expensive, special needs services would be low and that “the financial impact on regular education would be slight.” The law originally said the federal government would pay schools’ excess special education costs at 40 percent of the national average per pupil. The fiscal year 2011 budget called for funding at 17 percent.

Back in 1975, the country was in a recession and the fiscally conservative President Gerald Ford made his ambivalence about the bill clear during the signing ceremony.

“Unfortunately, this bill promises more than the federal government can deliver, and its good intentions could be thwarted by the many unwise provisions it contains,” Ford said. “Even the strongest supporters of this measure know as well as I that they are falsely raising the expectations of the groups affected by claiming authorization levels which are excessive and unrealistic.”

After the law was enacted, an estimated 1 million children who previously had not been in school were enrolled.

Teacher, Teacher By this time, David Ticchi was a grown man. He knew about the legislation and supported it, of course: “To be able to advocate for yourself, you have to have a knowing intellect,” he says. “I’ve tried to pay attention.”

But he also knew from experience that getting legislation passed was one thing: The bigger hurdle was changing attitudes. As Harvard Law School professor Martha Field said at a disabilities panel discussion held at the Ed School in the spring, “Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that once the law is passed, it’s all right.”

Growing up, Ticchi never really thought of himself as different. “I’m a person and blindness is a characteristic,” he says.

“We’re all made up of certain characteristics, but it’s not all of who I am.” And his parents expected as much from him as they did his older sister, who is not blind.

“Growing up on the farm was a real blessing for me,” Ticchi says. “Parents have expectations for any kid — keep your room neat, set the table. Not only did I have to do those things, but I was also expected to contribute on the farm.

Every day we had to feed the chickens, shovel manure, collect the eggs. It made me feel good about myself that I was contributing, but also that I was competent.”

Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education

• fall 2010

19

vis

The farm also served as his first teacher.

“We had a thousand chickens and we counted the eggs every day,” he says. There was even a blind chicken that he coveted. “By the time I was in the first grade, I knew how to add, subtract, and divide. I grew up in an environment where my parents expected much of me and now I expect much of myself.”

But when he was about to graduate from high school, he got his first real inkling that not everyone had such high hopes for him. Although his teachers had supported his intellect, a counselor assigned to him by the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind told him and his family that they could set him up with a fruit stand in the subway in Boston as a solid, lifelong profession.

“They never mentioned a word about college,” Ticchi says, nor any other options. He ignored their advice and earned a bachelor’s in economics cum laude from Holy Cross College in Worcester, Mass. — a real feat, says his close friend and dormmate, Chris Matthews. “Holy Cross was a tough school,” says the host of MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, who would read textbooks to Ticchi. “There was no grade inflation. You had to work for your grades.” At Harvard, Ticchi earned both a master’s and a doctorate from the Ed School

20

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

and on December 17, 1969 — he still recalls the date by heart — he became one of the first certified teachers in Massachusetts who was blind.

But again, even those huge accomplishments weren’t enough when he started applying for teaching slots. He was blind. No one wanted to take a chance on him.

“I don’t know how many resumes I sent out. And it wasn’t as easy as it is now,” he says. “Back then, you had to type out every envelope, make copies, put on the stamps. . . . ” When he applied for jobs, he didn’t, of course, say in his cover letters that he was blind. And by then it was illegal in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to discriminate in hiring on the basis of blindness.

“I knew in many cases that they’d be surprised by the white cane,” he says. He could usually tell by actions if the interviewer was interested or not: If he or she leaned forward during the discussion, something Ticchi could sense, it was a good sign. If the door to the office remained open after Ticchi sat down, it wasn’t. “I also knew that if the subject of blindness didn’t come up, I wouldn’t be considered for the job. It’s normal to have questions.”

Eventually, in 1971 — almost two years after he became certified — one principal gave him his chance.

Van Seasholes, head of Day Junior High School in Newton, Mass., knew Ticchi from his time student teaching at the school. Seasholes never doubted Ticchi could do the job, even when his superiors questioned the hire.

“That’s how a good system works,” says Seasholes, now semiretired. “You have confidence in the people that are there.

I knew Dave would figure out a way. Education has missed a lot of that — having confidence in people.”

And Ticchi did figure it out. He had students write on the blackboard. A personal reader would help him grade papers and tests. He earned the respect of the students.

“Kids have to respect a teacher,” he says. “And you don’t have to have 20/20 vision to be respected.” Today, nearly four decades after he first started teaching, he says people still ask if his students cheated. “Oh sure,” he says, but he’s convinced that some kids would have cheated no matter how acute the teacher’s vision. “Cheating was alive and well long before there were blind teachers.” Over time, he created a classroom culture based on the honor system that worked. “To this day, when I meet former students, they still talk about this.”

After six years at the school, Ticchi took a 10-year hiatus from teaching to work for a subsidiary of Xerox. The company had just come out with an optical scan system that digitized data and turned it into speech, primarily for the blind, but also for others with disabilities. The inventor, Raymond Kurzweil, lived in Newton at the time and recruited Ticchi.

sionary Eventually he missed the students and returned to the classroom, this time to Newton North High School, one of the city’s two high schools, where he now runs their alternative school-to-career program. Jim Marini, the person who hired Ticchi for the program, says that some staff had initial concerns that troubled students would try to take advantage of a teacher who is blind. But, as he predicted, “The students loved him,” says Marini, now interim superintendent of Newton Public Schools. “Kids really recognized that David wasn’t a blind person. He was a person of substance.”

It was one example, says Ticchi, of adults — not the students — questioning his ability to teach effectively. He remembers another, earlier experience when Seasholes asked him into his office. A parent had called with concerns about her son having a blind teacher. Seasholes backed him up, telling the parent that he had 100 percent confidence in Ticchi or he wouldn’t have hired him. He also told her that her son would probably have an experience he’d never forget.

“I felt we were lucky to have him,” Seasholes says. “I would never have jeopardized the kids. I hired another blind teacher later at Newton South High School but had to let him go. He didn’t have it with the kids. Dave always did.”

When talking about this time in his life and career, Ticchi, who also oversees the ethics program as a special assistant to the president of the Legal Sea Foods Corporation, gets misty.

“When someone is behind you like that, you’d run through a wall for them,” he says, “with or without a helmet.”

Value Added The scene opens with a 32-year-old Ticchi briskly walking down a tree-lined street wearing a scally cap and a thick, dark moustache, a red duffle bag in one hand, a white cane in the other. At the entrance to the school, he opens the door for another teacher.

In the next scene, Ticchi is in the classroom taking attendance. Walking around, he calls out names: Allan is here?

Rodney? Julie, Ronnie, and Eric. Where are Sherry and Donna? Is Julie getting her books?

He is relying on the students to participate, which they do. Other than Donna getting up to use the stapler, all of the students are in their seats. The noise level is

low. During a voice-over, Ticchi explains that this is critical for him to know what’s going on in the classroom.

The 1977 documentary is called A Blind Teacher in a Public School and was part of Ticchi’s Ed School doctoral thesis. It was his personal contribution, he writes in the thesis, “to the struggle for enlightenment in the area of the blind as public school teachers of the sighted.” It ran on PBS. For years after, people still recognized him on the street.

His interest in highlighting the way life really is for someone with a disability was the reason he also made a second documentary, Out of Sight, with noted filmmaker David Sutherland in 1993 that focused on a feisty horse trainer who is blind and was once referred to as a “bad girl Huck Finn.”

Ticchi says, “Legislation is important, but what it comes down to is changing attitudes. I wanted to make a film that might be shown on TV that showed that blind people are regular people. We’re not superhuman or subhuman. We’re really not. If we are one of those, it’s not because we’re blind; it’s because of something else.”

Professor Tom Hehir spends a lot of time in the courses he teaches at the Ed School talking about these images — the superhuman and the subhuman. Both are harmful for those with disabilities, says Hehir, who was director of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs and played a leading role in developing the Clinton administration’s proposal for the 1997 reauthorization of IDEA. Referred to as “ableism,” this form of discrimination devalues disabilities, Hehir writes in Special Education for a New Century. Whether the image is of a frail, pitied person in leg braces (think poster child for a telethon) or of the inspirational disabled person (think quadriplegic who summits Kilimanjaro), there’s a failure to accept and value disabled people as they are.

Matt Underwood, Ed.M.’04, principal of the Atlanta Charter Middle School in Atlanta, Ga., who took courses with Hehir, says that in order to avoid ableism, the mindset in their school is that that everyone has learning differences.

For this reason, every student — not just the disabled — has a “personalized learning plan” similar to an IEP. “This helps to lessen the stigma sometimes attached to these sorts of supports because we make it clear that everyone needs help with something,” he says.

Hehir says that ableism in schools also takes time away from actual learning. When Ticchi was first learning to read and write, he did it the same way the other students were learning, despite the fact that is was a hard process. (He had to use large-sized print and a big magnifying glass.)

“I’d get very close, so it was really slow going,” he says.

Taking notes in class was extremely tedious. “If there was anything I would change, it would be that I learned Braille earlier. It’s critical. There’s a crisis today in Braille literacy.

There’s a shortage of teachers and a misconception that technology will replace it.” Many blind students today rely on MP3 players, audiobooks, and computer software. According to a report released last year by the National Federation of the Blind, about half of all blind children learned Braille in the 1950s compared with 10 percent today.

Ticchi points to current employment rates for the blind as good reason to utilize all methods of learning — technology and Braille.

“The unemployment rate is about 70 percent for blind people. It’s outrageously high,” he says. “Of the remaining 30 percent who are employed, nearly 90 percent are Braille readers.”

A similar struggle has been brewing for years within the deaf community. Instead of learning American Sign Language (ASL), many children who are deaf or hard of hearing are encouraged primarily to use the language of the dominant culture by learning to read lips and speak or to “fix” their inability to hear by having a cochlear implant surgically installed, which provides a sense of sound. Unfortunately, as Shapiro writes, “even in the best of circumstances, only 30 percent of speech can be read from lip movements.”

Which is exactly why Jeremiah Ford, C.A.S.’91, principal at the Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, a public school in Boston, makes sure that all of his students know and use sign language. Not only is it the language of the deaf, but also, as he’s seen many times since he started at the school in 2004, technology fails.

“We had a young woman whose implant was damaged recently,” Ford says. “It had to go out for repair and she was totally deaf. So she signed. It was advantageous that she could do that.” Even when parents express a strong interest in having their children learn orally, he points out the plus-sides to knowing ASL as well.

22

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

vis

“Parents have a strong opinion on how they want their child to be educated,” he says. “My job is to bring the value of the deaf cultural experience, the value of ASL, regardless of whether you are being taught orally as well. It’s powerful to be multilingual.”

Good IDEA Thirty-five years after the Education for All Handicapped Children bill was enacted, stories are still being written in the press asking the question: Is it working? As Singer noted in her Education Week commentary, “Yes, P.L 94-142 is working across the country — but not uniformly.” In the absence of very detailed regulations, she said, individual states and districts have followed their own guidelines over the years.

“Differences are found in almost all provisions of the law: who is identified, how they are evaluated, where they are placed, and which services are received.”

But, as Singer also noted, this kind of “research perspective” may not be the best vantage point to evaluate whether or not the legislation is working. Perhaps the stories of real people like Amanda Grant, Ed.M.’10, are what matter most.

Diagnosed in second grade with a learning disability, Grant says she was supported in her public schools in Massachusetts and Kentucky and feels the legislation helped her get the accommodations she needed as both a student and later as a teacher. Now she wants to take the legislation a step further.

“I taught for two years in Tanzania at a school for children with disabilities. There were no laws to help them. It’s all grassroots,” she says. “I’m looking at how laws like Section 504 and IDEA can be moved outward and can help children all over the world who have disabilities.”

And of course, there’s the story of David Ticchi. Although his little four-room schoolhouse in West Bridgewater is gone, replaced by a more modern brick building, the legacy of what a quality public education offered him is clear, as shown in a letter written in 1973 by one of his junior high students to a superintendent in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in support of a teacher who lost his vision and then his job: “Maybe if we give people a chance, they just might jump out and shock us. Never after seven years of elementary school have I ever had the most respect for a teacher. I do admit I liked all my teachers and tried to be a good student, but never did I test myself for loyalty and truth as I do this year. Most of the people that got Mr. Ticchi, our English teacher, who is blind, thought how easy it would be to chew gum, sneak in when you’re late for class, etc. But they soon found out they always got caught. We soon grew to know and to respect Mr. Ticchi as a teacher and a human being.” Ed. To watch a video interview with David Ticchi, go to www.gse.harvard.edu/ed/extras.

sionary Changes in the Law

As with just about any legislation, amendments were added over the years to the Education for All Handicapped Children Act. Some of the key changes included:

1986 amendments (P.L.99-457) • Extended the coverage to children ages 0–5 • Established an early intervention program for infants and toddlers, 0–2

1990 amendments (P.L.101-476) • Renamed the law: the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) • Replaced the phrase “handicapped child” with “child with a disability” • Provided transition services for students • Extended services to children with autism and traumatic brain injury • Extended the “least restrictive environment” component of the original legislation; disabled children are required to learn in classes with children without disabilities, to the maximum extent possible

1997 amendments (P.L.105-17) • Required students with disabilities to be included in state and districtwide testing, with accommodations when necessary • Extended services to children with attention deficit disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder • Stated that assessments must be done in the language used by the child • Added that parents must be given progress reports at least as often as parents are informed of progress for children without disabilities

2004 amendments (P.L.108-446)

istockphoto.com/mbphoto

• Expanded educational requirements for special education teachers: must now have a state special education certification or license and a bachelor’s degree • Expanded the rights of homeless, highly mobile, and foster children with disabilities • Transferred burden of proof to parents, from the school district, in showing that disciplinary behavior was caused by (or had a direct relationship to) the disability

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

23

Long Way to

Go

More than two decades after the first

gay-straight alliance was started in a

school, has much changed for students when it comes to gay rights?

By Judah Leblang illustrations by sandra dionisi

W

hen I was asked to write about the state of the schools for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth today, I jumped at the opportunity. After all, I’m a former teacher and student myself, who struggled through high school east of Cleveland, Ohio, in the mid-1970s, and then taught deaf high school students in Columbus in the 1980s. In 1985–86, when I finally came out (to myself), and began to date other men, I was terrified of being discovered — and rejected — by my fellow teachers, some of whom were my friends. I left teaching after that year, moved to Boston, and went back to graduate school. In the 1990s, I briefly taught in two suburban districts south and west of Boston. In one of those schools, I came out to the staff during my first week. In the other, I remained fully closeted, afraid of clashing with my conservative Christian colleagues.

My teaching career ended before Ellen’s historic kiss on primetime TV, before Will and Grace, before same-sex marriage, and the rise of gay-straight alliances. How, I wondered now, have things changed?

As I explored the topic, talking to teachers, former teachers, and other educators from Massachusetts to Illinois to California, I learned that simple answers are elusive; it was like trying to photograph a speeding train. Yes, things are changing and in some cases getting better, as society becomes more tolerant, they said. For example, I recently learned that my public high school back in Beachwood, Ohio, has a gaystraight alliance (GSA), and according to a former classmate who is now a teacher’s aide at the school, “kids are just more accepting today,” noting that her teenage daughter has several “out” gay friends. And in the states that have same-sex marriage, teachers can “come out” to their students in developmentally appropriate ways by mentioning their partners, as one of my friends did in a second-grade class that was working on writing their life stories.

And yet, most, if not all, public schools remain fundamentally unsafe for LGBT students. The most progressive schools, many of which are located in Massachusetts, are marked by administrators, teachers, and staff who are trying to “do the right thing” and to support their gay and lesbian students. But in many other schools, in New England and throughout the nation, the atmosphere for gay youth may not be much different, or much better, than it was for boys and girls like me back in the 1970s.

I started my interviews close to home, in a city known as the epicenter of liberalism, with Ed Byrne, the current diversity programs coordinator at Cambridge Rindge & Latin High School, just around the corner from Harvard. Sitting in Byrne’s office, I noticed the school’s mission statement on the wall, which read in part, “We maintain a nurturing, safe environment for every student.”

26

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

Byrne, who is in his late 20s and grew up in the Boston area, has been active in providing support for LGBT youth since college. Before arriving in Cambridge, he helped establish approximately 50 gay-straight alliances in communities all around Massachusetts, along with a few in neighboring states. According to Byrne, and several other activists, many administrators are initially resistant to establishing GSAs, even though the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has encouraged them ever since 1993, when the department (then called the State Board of Education) recommended the establishment of GSAs across the state as one means of providing a supportive environment for LGBT students. (That same year, Massachusetts Governor William Weld passed a bill that made the state the first in the country to outlaw discrimination against gay and lesbian students in public schools.)

And so, even in liberal-leaning schools and towns, coming out in high school can be difficult. Even in progressive Cambridge, homophobia is evident. While saying “fag” is considered uncool among most students, “that’s so gay” (meaning lame or stupid) is a common expression.

Byrne believes some gay and lesbian students don’t want to “tempt fate” by being too visible at the high school. What happens, he wonders, when students are beyond the reach of supportive teachers and administrators. “What happens on Facebook? Texting?” he says. He and other educators are concerned about students whom “we’re not reaching, some of whom are openly gay.”

I also interviewed Arthur Lipkin, Ed.M.’76, chair of the Massachusetts Commission of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth, and a former teacher at Rindge. Lipkin, who came out in the early 1980s after teaching for almost 15 years, stresses the range of experiences a student can have within the same school or district. “Even at schools where some [students and teachers] are out and setting good examples, you could be living in the 1950s,” he says. He and Byrne emphasize the additional challenges faced by LGBT students of color who often deal with issues of racism and who may not feel safe enough or ready to come out until there is a “critical mass of kids of color” in their schools.

In his role as chair of the Massachusetts Commission, Lipkin visits schools around the state. Currently, about two-thirds of Massachusetts high schools have GSAs, but that alone is not enough to create a sense of safety and inclusion for gay youth. According to two major surveys, the Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Survey and GLSEN’s (the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) National School Climate Survey, LGBT students are much more likely to experience verbal and physical harassment, and attempt suicide, than their straight peers. (The rate of “suicidality” is almost five times higher for gay, lesbian, and bisexual students

than for their straight counterparts.) GLSEN’s 2007 survey shows that 91 percent of gay students have heard “gay” used in a negative way, and 59 percent of LGBT middle-schoolers have experienced physical harassment; 43 percent of LGBT high school students have also been harassed.

Clearly, teachers and school staff need more training to address the harassment, yet funding is often an issue. In Massachusetts, for example, the Safe Schools Program has been cut significantly. Currently, there is no state money set aside for student programming or for teacher training on dealing with homophobia and antigay harassment.

As a result, educators both within and beyond Massachusetts explained that while teachers usually want to do the right thing, they are often unsure of what to do.

When they hear homophobic epithets, they often ignore the behavior, for example. If this much work needs to be done in Massachusetts, what, I wondered, was the situation like in other parts of the nation?

I

continued my search at the opposite end of the political spectrum from Cambridge, with Virginia Cornelius, Ed.M.’96, a high school teacher in Oxford, Miss. Cornelius, who grew up in New York City. After 10 years of teaching at her high school, she finds her students very polite, with strong respect for authority. Therefore, she would be unlikely to hear anti-gay epithets, particularly when her students know she is “liberal.”

But even putting politeness aside, Cornelius says things are changing in Mississippi. Though the school does not have a GSA or provide any formal support to gay and lesbian students, Cornelius feels that students know whom they can talk to; she cited the drama teacher and the Spanish teacher as other allies at the school. Some boys and girls in her school are out to a few people; she knows of students who are out to their mothers but not to their fathers. In addition, several former students have come out as gay or lesbian at Ole Miss, the University of Mississippi, which is also located in Oxford. One visited Cornelius and gave her an “ally” sticker to post on her bulletin board, explaining that her classroom is a safe space for LGBT kids. (No one has asked her to take the sticker down.)

After hearing from educators in Massachusetts, Mississippi, and my old classmate in Ohio, I took a brief snapshot of other states, including Maine, California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New York.

Betsy Parsons, C.A.S.’82, is cochair of the GLSEN chapter in Southern Maine and cocoordinator of the state’s GSAs. Parsons has taught for most of the past 30 years at two Portland-area high schools, and has seen both progress and the need for more education and support for LGBT students.

“We have a long way to go,” she explains. “This is an equal opportunity issue — an entire population whose education is being jeopardized. [We need to] see it as a social justice issue rather than addressing the problems after they happen. We can get to the root of the problem by providing fairer access to a public education.”

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

27

Climate:

For Parsons, the turning point came after she had returned to teaching in the mid-’90s, after several years of graduate study at Harvard. One of her former students, a young woman who had recently graduated from college, returned and told Parsons she was a lesFor more than a decade, the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education bian. As a ninth-grader, she had contemplated suicide Network (GLSEN) has conducted a biannual national climate and saw no future for herself. survey to document the experience of LGBT students in America.

“She told me she felt like the only lesbian in the Here is a sampling of what they found in their latest survey. whole world,” says Parsons. When Parsons asked what she could have done to ease the girl’s struggle, the young 90.2% of students heard “gay” Students who said they felt they woman listed some helpful steps Parsons had taken used in a negative way often or had six or more supportive staff and then said, “You could have been fully out.” That frequently at school. More than members had higher GPAs than “moment of truth” led Parsons to become one of the 83% felt distressed by this. students without (2.9 versus 2.5). first “out” teachers in the state, and to establish only the second GSA in Maine at her high school. (Nationally, 32.7% of LGBT students missed 10.5% of students reported the number of GSAs has increased dramatically, from a day of school because of feeling being exposed in their classes to only a handful in 1990 to about 4,000 today.) unsafe, compared with 4.5% of positive representations of LGBT Parsons cites three key factors in creating safe a national sample of secondary people, history, or events. schools for all youth: supportive faculty and staff, school students. which includes both “out” LGBT teachers and straight allies; the establishment of GSAs, which allow students 97.4% of students in a school In schools with comprehensive to educate their peers in creative ways; and having poliwith a GSA said they could identify anti-harassment policies, 29.1% cies which promote inclusion and nondiscrimination, one or more supportive staff, comof students reported that school such as Maine’s gay rights law — which took 28 years pared with 73.8% of students in staff intervened most or all of the to pass, finally becoming law in 2005. schools without GSAs. As of 2010, time when hearing homophobic Unfortunately, not all students attend schools 4,000 GSAs were registered with language, compared with 17.5% where this kind of safe culture is created. According GLSEN. There are more than 98,000 in schools with generic policies to GLSEN’s national survey, 50 percent of gay middlepublic schools in the country. and 13.1% with no policies. schoolers had missed at least a day of school in the past month due to safety concerns.

In Maine, Parsons explains, “I’m still looking at the two-thirds of Maine schools that don’t have a GSA. Where the rigid gender norms, and the narrow range of acceptable are those kids looking for a sense of safety in school? … There’s behavior (especially for boys) at the school, were everywhere. a danger of people getting too complacent, but we still have a Among those boys, “fag” was the worst thing one could be lot of kids in dire trouble.” called; one boy told the author, “It’s like you’re nothing.”

CJ Pascoe, a professor at Colorado State University, The harassment at River High reflected another theme spent more than a year observing boys in a high school in related by teachers around the country — that gender roles California’s Central Valley, a conservative district some of the and sexuality are tied together, and students who are viewed locals describe as “right out of Iowa.” In her book, Dude, You’re as outside the norm of traditional notions of gender are tara Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School, Pascoe degeted for harassment. One of the four “out” boys at the school scribes the way boys “police” expressions of masculinity. One sometimes wore skirts and was one of the star dancers (and way of ensuring membership in the club of “normal boys” was the only boy) on the jazz dance team. He was teased mercito harass others for behavior that was seen as feminine, such lessly and eventually dropped out of school. Pascoe reports as being emotional, smiling too much, caring about cloththat the three other boys, who were physically more imposing ing, dancing (for white boys), or being incompetent. Though and typically masculine in their behavior, generally avoided California has a broad law protecting LGBT students, teasantigay harassment. ing, use of the word “fag,” and other epithets were the norm As my research continued, I felt like I had unearthed one rather than the exception at River High School (a pseudonym). of those Russian matryoshka dolls, lost in a world of adolesWithin the school, teachers usually ignored these behaviors, cent sexuality, gender roles, and societal norms — one issue resulting in a hostile environment for gay and lesbian students. wrapped in another and another. Still, committed teachers are Initially, Pascoe had not planned to focus on homophobia, but making progress. Colby Berger, Ed.M.’01, was a high school

Cloudy with a Chance of Support

28

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

English teacher near Philadelphia in the late 1990s. After being fully “out” in college, Berger found herself briefly back in the closet, working in a school where students routinely used words like “fag” and the omnipresent “that’s so gay.” As a firstyear teacher, she challenged her students to think about what they were saying and promoted a respectful environment even while she avoided lecturing them on the topic. Meanwhile, a group of students wanted to start a GSA, but the administration claimed there were no gay students in the school.

Berger helped the students track all the homophobic and transphobic epithets they heard over the course of a week, and gave that list to school administrators. Eventually, a GSA was established; today, the school principal says that he would not operate a school without a gay-straight alliance.

In her second year at the school, Berger came out. As she explains, “I was out to a handful of kids [before] but then I came out in a more public way. I knew I was leaving to go to graduate school. I also knew there were 38 states where I could be fired with no protection [for being gay].” (Note: Today there are 20 states that provide protection for gays and lesbians; 12 provide protection based on gender expression.)

Like Parsons, she points out both the importance of being “out” — and the risks that step entails for gay and lesbian educators who love their profession, and who are still not protected by antidiscrimination laws in most states. (It is relatively easy for administrators to dismiss nontenured teachers, without overtly citing their sexual orientation).

Since graduating from the Ed School in 2001, Berger has held a number of social service positions working with LGBT teens. Like other educators I interviewed, she stresses the importance of training staff (not only teachers) to create a supportive environment for all families, from the first point of contact with a receptionist to the lunchroom monitors to teachers and administrators.

Another advocate, Sojn Boothroyd, Ed.M.’10, has worked as an arts educator in schools in the Northwest and Midwest. In Chicago, Boothroyd found that schools varied widely in terms of creating supportive environments for LGBT youth.

“One school could be totally different than another in terms of homophobia,” she says. “One school had hate-free zone signs up, a strong GSA, and lots of out youth. You walked in and knew this was a school that supported their queer youth, and at the next school there was nothing like that and no youth were out. [The latter was] an all-boys school, and teachers used homophobic slurs. That plays into the [attitudes] of the leadership of the school and their stance.”

Ultimately, creating a truly welcoming space for LGBT students may depend on reaching youth before high school, during the primary and middle school years, as Sobrique “Sorby” Grant did. A student at the Harvard Kennedy School who spoke at a recent Ed School discussion about homophobia in

schools, Grant was heavily involved with LGBT activism during her undergraduate years. In the early 2000s, she joined the Teach For America program and hoped to work with a GSA in a New York City high school. To her surprise, she ended up teaching fourth-graders in the Bronx. She describes her school as “not particularly progressive,” but within her classroom, she made a concerted effort to touch on gay and lesbian topics in a developmentally appropriate way. Students read a book called And Tango Makes Three about two male penguins who find an abandoned egg and eventually coparent the resulting penguin chick, which promoted discussion in her classroom about all types of families. Grant says it became clear that her students “got it” — that they understood what it meant to respect everyone — after a subsequent experience in gym class.

One day her students returned to the classroom from gym class, strangely quiet. They explained that one of their classmates had been taunted by the gym teacher for running too slow. The teacher asked the boy if he was gay and said he was acting “like a sissy.” The next day, the children confronted the gym teacher and told him that he treated their classmate unfairly and hurt his feelings. The teacher apologized, and Grant’s students learned a valuable lesson.

After her work in the New York City public schools, Grant worked with homeless LGBT teens in the city. Many had dropped out of school because of the relentless bullying they had experienced, and most had been kicked out by their parents, often because of their sexual orientation. Grant sums up the atmosphere in New York: “Children are only as progressive as their parents and teachers … and a lot of teachers have inherent homophobia, and that transfers to students.”

Today, in our rapidly changing era of same-sex marriage; the (promised) end of the military’s don’t ask, don’t tell policy; and visible gay politicians, actors, and athletes, more gay and lesbian teachers are opening up about their lives, and teachers, both straight and gay, are bringing LGBT people into the mainstream. But many teachers and administrators remain hesitant to address gay, lesbian, and transgender issues, since they are loath to discuss sexuality in any form, afraid of the backlash from conservative parents and community members.

Thinking back to the boy I was 35 years ago, afraid of my own sexuality, with no one to talk to in my suburban Ohio high school, I’m encouraged by the progress that has been made, and chastened by the work that remains to be done. At this point in 2010, we remain far from the ultimate goal of all teachers of goodwill: to create schools that are truly safe and welcoming for everyone, including LGBT students.

— Judah Leblang writes a column for Bay Windows, Boston’s gay newspaper, and recently published his first book, Finding My Place: One Man’s Journey from Cleveland to Boston and Beyond. This is his first piece in Ed. magazine. Ed. Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

29

Modern Age They have less experience but more responsibility. They’re often younger than their entire staff. How a new generation of younger principals is handling the job.

by josh moss

illustrations by Michael klein

M

aternity leave is over. On this mid-

May Thursday morning, just seven days until students go on summer vacation, Jessica Rosenthal, Ed.M.’08, has her hands full inside Hawthorne Elementary, the Louisville, Ky., school where she’s wrapping up her first year as a principal after teaching English for four years in Nashville, Tenn. The one-story school’s neighborhood, with homes that have manicured front lawns, is less than a mile from the house where Rosenthal and her husband live. It’s the 28-year-old’s second day back since taking more than a month off to care for her infant son, Neil, now 7 weeks old, and she arrived at 8 this morning. She has been going nonstop ever since, spending as little time as possible in her tidy office with a few crayon-colored pictures on the wall. “It feels weird to be in there with all that’s happening around me,” she says.

There’s the boy who got a referral for biting another student, a committee she needs to advise about purchasing textbooks, and two positions she needs to fill for the 2010–11 school year. The PTA president has a question about a year-end picnic. Rosenthal has 31 pages of e-mails to back up before the school’s new system kicks in, and is also considering leading an afterschool program to train girls to run a 5K. She also needs to go into every single classroom to observe teachers and take digital notes on her tablet computer, something she tries to do daily. Not to mention that at 1:30 p.m., her mother, in from Tennessee to help with childcare until summer, will bring Neil to Hawthorne for a feeding. (Striking a balance between work and family has been challenging. At home, Rosenthal sometimes types an e-mail with one hand while using the other to hold her son.)

“Everything comes to a halt until I make a decision,” she says. “Everything falls on my plate.”

The students in the hallway are having trouble staying in a line, which is something Rosenthal plans to fix next year by making them stand in alphabetical order while alternating the leader to be fair. But that’s for another day because right now a kindergarten boy in a navy blue polo shirt is bursting with energy in the hallway, hopping from one foot to the other as if the janitor-polished floor is scalding his feet. During art class, a teacher kicked out him and two other students — whom Rosenthal will have to deal with, too — for fighting. This late into the school year, the teachers seem fed up with the troublemakers. “Everybody is at the end of their rope,” Rosenthal says. “I have a little more patience because I was out for so long.”

She is tall and bends over at the waist to whisper into the child’s ear, a strategy she uses often. “Your choices are to stay in your class or go to Ms. Wilson’s class,” says Rosenthal, holding the boy’s hand.

“I don’t want to go to anybody’s class,” he replies.

Temporarily, Rosenthal puts the boy in a room with

32

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

fourth-graders, tells him to work on some subtraction math problems. Then she’s on to the next task. Always a next task.

“I don’t think anybody can come into this job prepared,” she says, despite last year serving an internship with two Louisville principals. “Until you’re in the position and you are really the authority, you can’t know what it’s like. I honestly don’t think more years in the classroom would have made this job any easier.”

The trend over the last five to eight years, says Vick Flanary with the National Association of Secondary School Principals, has seen educators enter principalships with fewer years of experience than what has traditionally been expected. “If I talked to a group of principals 10 years ago, it wouldn’t be uncommon for them to say, ‘I spent 10, 15, 20 years in the classroom — or as a counselor or an assistant principal — before taking a principal job. Today the incubation period is as short as it has ever been,” says Flanary, who was a middle school principal for 12 years in a Washington, D.C., suburb. And the job, he adds, has changed.

“Responsibility has increased, expectations are much greater, and accountability has grown exponentially. There’s so much more scrutiny with how your school is performing,” he says. “The demands have created a pool of principal candidates that is shallower than it has ever been, which leads to the hiring of younger principals. As you look at the profession overall, I do have concern with our shortening the path to the job.”

Joseph Shivers, Ed.M.’85, Ed.D.’89, is 62 years old. He graduated from Salem High School in Salem, Ohio, and has been the school’s principal for the past four years. It is his sixth principalship. The first one came in Kirtland, Ohio, in 1989. That was after 12 years teaching at a parochial school, a charter school, and a school in South Korea, to name a few, plus administrative positions with the Diocesan Department of Education of Columbus, Ohio, in the early 1980s. At Salem, he was director of curriculum and testing before becoming principal.

“I don’t know that youth is an insurmountable obstacle or impediment, but one has to have really great judgment to do this job. For me, that’s been a slower process. It seems that each year I’ve learned more about improving my judgment,” Shivers says. “Each week, each month, each year I spent in the classroom framed what I do as principal. After 18 years, any problem that arises is a variation of something I’ve seen.”

I

t’s Teacher Appreciation Week, and Filip

Hristic has prepared a breakfast for his staff: eggs and bacon, fruit salad for the health-conscious, bagels and cream cheese as a nod to his East Coast roots. The 32-yearold Hristic, Ed.M.’07, is wrapping up his third year as principal of Newberg High School’s Yellow School, one of

“

Until you’re in the position and you are really the authority, you can’t know what it’s like. I honestly don’t think more years in the classroom would have made this job any easier.”

— Jessica Rosenthal, Ed.M.’08 four small schools that have 400 students or so in Newberg, Ore. “It can be a little bit daunting to sit in front of a staff of 25 and realize most of them are as old as your parents — if not older — and think of yourself as their boss,” he says.

Hristic was born in Belgrade, Serbia, came to the states in seventh grade, and went through high school in New Jersey. After studying teacher training at Boston College, Hristic spent a few years teaching in Massachusetts, first at an alternative high school for “behaviorally and emotionally challenged students, but also students so bright and brilliant they were bored out of their minds in a traditional setting,” he says. They went on what Hristic calls “real-life expeditions,” such as traveling to Mexico to examine environmental and political issues on the U.S.-Mexico border. His next stop was a charter school in Salem, Mass. “Through those experiences my interest in working with students was confirmed,” he says. “I knew this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, but I also got really excited about helping shape schools.”

After studying principal training at the Ed School, Hristic and his spouse wanted to move to the West Coast, to be closer to his wife’s family in Alaska. Newberg High School was divided into five small schools at the time, and Hristic interviewed for each position in one night and landed the job at the Yellow School.

“One of the real challenges is to understand your limitations and understand where you can speak from experience and knowledge and when you need to pull in other resources. I will never be one of those principals who says, ‘I’ve been in the classroom 25 years and can tell you from my experience … ,’” he says. “For those principals who don’t have as much class-

room experience as your staff, I think it’s really important to recognize that and be honest about it. But that is not to say we cannot be instructional leaders. It probably means you’re not going to teach many of your staff members how to be better teachers, but you can connect them with other teachers you recognize as highly effective.”

Kim Marshall, Ed.M.’81, works for New Leaders for New Schools, a nonprofit that places principals — mostly in their late 20s and early 30s — into urban schools. He says a principal’s age should not affect job performance.

“There are an awful lot of veteran assistant principals who want to be principals but just don’t have the burning belief or the energy to do this kind of work. This is a 70- or 80-houra-week job, just incredibly intense,” says the 62-year-old Marshall, who taught for more than a decade in Boston before becoming a principal at age 39 at Boston’s Mather School, a position he held for 15 years. “If you’re sitting down giving critical feedback to a 50-year-old high school physics teacher, it’s tough to do that if you’re 28 years old. But at the same time, many of these young folks have the talent and leadership skills to do that.”

Marshall has heard some people express concern that principals who enter the position at a younger age run the risk of burning out. “You could turn it around and say it’s like appointing somebody to the Supreme Court. You want somebody to be young so they’ll be around for a while,” Marshall says. “A lot of these folks, though, aren’t going to be principals for 35 years. They’re going to move up the ranks.”

Allison Gaines Pell, Ed.M.’00, wrote the business plan for and helped start New Leaders for New Schools, where Marshall works, while at Harvard. Then in 2006, she founded — and still serves as principal of — the Urban Assembly Academy of Arts and Letters in Brooklyn. Despite her accomplishments, Gaines Pell admits that being in her early 30s affected how she presented herself early on. During the first three years, she wore a suit to school every day to look different than the teachers.

“This year, I finally decided it wasn’t about the suit,” she says. “When people see me they often say, ‘Oh, you’re the principal?’ They expect to see someone older. I don’t think I look that young anymore; I have some gray hair now, so that’s good.”

The Urban Assembly Academy of Arts and Letters is a middle school with 300 students on the third floor of a building shared with an elementary school. After drafting a proposal, and after the New York Department of Education determined a location for Gaines Pell’s school, she hired teachers and recruited students. The oldest person on staff is just older than 40.

“I saw the need for a school that was a balance between the more progressive and more traditional approaches,” she says. One recent project had sixth-graders asking whether Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

33

ancient Rome was a society of achievement or brutality. The school partnered with a local arts organization to create illustrated A–Z children’s books. Gaines Pell has put in a proposal to become a K–8 school and hoped to have an answer by fall.

Gaines Pell grew up in Brooklyn and lived in an apartment that’s within walking distance of the building where she’s now principal. By eighth grade she was writing essays about education reform. After studying English and graduating from Brown University, she taught elementary classes at the K–12 school where she went in Brooklyn Heights.

In total, Gaines Pell has five years in the classroom, which includes a stint in Syracuse, N.Y. Before starting her own school, she also worked for an organization called Pencil, which focuses on developing relationships between business leaders and public school principals.

“If you define the traditional way to becoming a principal as 15 or 20 years in the classroom and then an assistant principal position, then obviously my resume is different,” she says. “I maintain that leadership requires a lot of different types of experiences and a lot of those experiences I’ve had working at a lot of different places.

“That said, I also knew when I started the school that I was not going to be the most important instructional leader in the school,” she adds. “I’m good at surrounding myself with people who know more about things than I. Instructional expertise must be in the school, but it doesn’t necessarily have to come from me.”

For the 50-year-old Kathy Barwin, Ed.M.’87, a belief that she did not possess the skills to be an effective classroom

34

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

instructor led her to quit her job as a middle school reading and language arts teacher in Vermont and go to the Ed School to study reading, language, and learning disabilities.

For one, as a teacher she had no clue what to do with her underachieving readers. Following graduation, though, it was back to the Vermont middle school, where she taught for 12 more years, putting her total at 17. Barwin is now the principal of Founders Memorial School, for third-, fourthand fifth-graders in Essex Town, Vt. Before accepting that position, she also worked as a literacy teacher-leader for the state’s school district, plus accepted a position as a curriculum coordinator.

“The complete advantage to a path like mine is that you have more credibility with your teachers. They know I’ve been there, given my background,” she says. “The downside is you end up with tunnel vision about the public education system.”

Barwin, who has been principal at Founders Memorial School for five years, says that the principalship is a job that has evolved. “The old-school model of a principal was thought of as a management job — making sure the building was clean, the buses were on time, teachers had money in their budget — and that model doesn’t cut it anymore,” she says. “You have to be an expert in education and have experience differentiating your instruction. There are a lot of principals who have spent years in the classroom, but they’ve done the one-size-fits-all type of teaching, and you just can’t do it these days.”

Technology, Barwin says, is one area in which the younger principals have the advantage, calling them “technology

“

I think if you have the expertise and the skills to lead a school, I’m not sure how much relevancy age should have.”

— Gerald Yung, Ed.M.’09

natives” and herself a “technology immigrant.” At her school, Barwin has a technology integrationist. “But I’m in luck. I have four kids and they’re the ones who teach me; they’re my technology integrationists at home,” she says with a laugh.

“I was joking with my five-year-old and said, ‘When you grow up and move out of the house, I’m going to have to get another kid so I can keep up.’”

G

erald Yung, Ed.M.’07, has been principal

at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School in Cambridge, Mass., for one year. One of the first things he did involved the school’s enrichment block. The volunteers who had been leading the sessions on topics such as yoga, newspapers, and cooking were not always reliable, and Yung, 33, asked his teachers to do the teaching instead, basically adding an hour to their day.

“That was one of my first moves: Guess what, teachers, I need you to pick up another block,” Yung says. “There was some discontent, but not a lot. I remember one of the teachers at the staff meeting said, ‘You know what, Gerald, I think we’ve seen this coming. We understand how this can really help our school.’”

Yung attended high school in Cambridge and, after graduating, went on to study economics and political science at Emory University in Georgia. To fill some credits, he took a few teaching classes. “The rumor at the school was the education courses were the way to [fill credits],” he says.

Soon he was in an urban Atlanta middle school, teaching seventh-grade geography students where Atlanta was on a map. “I was hooked on that ability to transfer knowledge,” he says. “I loved it when kids had that oh moment and you knew they understood. As time progressed, I just saw the challenge of taking those moments and having the ability to multiply that across a school.”

After graduating from Lesley University in Cambridge (where he earned another master’s), but before heading to Harvard, Yung taught eighth-grade U.S. history for six years in Milton, Mass. Yung’s current job is his second principalship, the first being at a Worcester, Mass., charter school.

Now his school, which has 270 students, grades preK–8,

has applied for a federal grant to expand its dual-immersion language program, which has kids receive instruction in both English and Mandarin.

“I think if you have the expertise and the skills to lead a school, I’m not sure how much relevancy age should have,” he says.

Hawthorne Elementary in Louisville, where Rosenthal is principal, is also a dual-language school. On this day in late May, a week before summer vacation, Rosenthal is sitting in a tiny blue chair in a kindergarten classroom, listening to the instructor speak in Spanish, teaching her students about coins through song. “¿Como se llama esta moneda?” the children sing, looking at a picture of a nickel on a chart their teacher is pointing to. “¡Se llama Thomas Jefferson!” they all shout. Then, in Spanish, the teacher asks the kids the value of each coin.

Rosenthal records notes on her tablet computer about how she likes all of the Spanish decorations papering the walls.

Next year, all K–5 Hawthorne students will take their math and science classes in Spanish. During Rosenthal’s first year, about two-thirds did. It will be a big change, no doubt, but after one year parents will then have a choice to continue with the program. After checking in on the kindergartners, Rosenthal’s next stop is a fourth-grade math class, and the teacher is not speaking a word of English. An overhead projector displays math problems. As she asks questions, hands shoot up all over the room. “I really have to pay attention to understand what she’s saying, but the kids are clearly getting it,” Rosenthal says. “And it’s not taking any time away from any core content.” After jotting more notes, it’s on to the next task — backing up e-mails, talking to the PTA president, and observing children in the library. Always a next task.

“As a principal, I have a great opportunity to make a difference in these kids’ lives,” Rosenthal says. “I mean, I know I’m young. By no means do I think my first year was stellar, but I’m certain I’ll be a better principal next year — and the next year and the next year.”

— Josh Moss is a staff writer with Louisville Magazine. This is his first piece in Ed. Ed. Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

35

in the media How does your interest in education translate to your career as a web developer?

with

Dom Sagolla

When Dom Sagolla, Ed.M.’00, was product-testing the earliest version of what is now known as Twitter, he perfectly summed up — in the site’s 38th tweet ever — what in a few short years would be the feeling of millions of web users: “Oh this is going to be addictive.”

That intuition has served Sagolla well over the years, as he parlayed his early interest in computer programming into a long career as a web developer, including stints at Macromedia, Adobe, and Odeo (now Twitter).

Sagolla also knew when to strike out on his own, cocreating DollarApp and iPhoneDevCamp and capitalizing on the emerging consumer trends in handheld technology.

But it was earlier in his career when Sagolla’s true focus became apparent.

At his first post–Ed School job, Sagolla worked at the MIT Media Lab’s Future of Learning project with Seymour Papert, the person whose LOGO programming language first awoke a teenaged Sagolla’s inner learner. “Papert taught me that the computer is a learner’s tool, not necessarily a teacher’s tool,” says Sagolla. “After this experience, I vowed to turn all of my skills towards empowering the learner.”

36

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

Michel Utrecht

oneonone

I joined Macromedia to work on the Dreamweaver project because I personally used that tool to learn about web standards. It’s an education in a box; just using Dreamweaver will force you to accept certain ways of doing things. I used this experience to find a job at the University of California, Berkeley, teaching adults how to build websites, and emphasizing the experiential aspect of learning through building that Seymour taught me.

I left Macromedia to work at Odeo — which became Twitter — because I believe strongly in the power of Open Source as an educational tool. One should be able to see how one’s software is built, and be able to fix or extend it.

Odeo was the promise of Open Source, combined with a new kind of “web app” that allowed anyone to contribute content to the public commons using just their voice. The idea of voice has yet to take hold, but the idea of writing for the public commons was a natural evolution of that idea, and thus Twitter was born.

Tell me about your book, 140 Characters: A Style Guide for the Short Form. Who should read it?

Anyone who wants to write more concisely and effectively via e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, or other small spaces. The short form is the oldest form of writing.

Consider the possibilities in headlines, lead sentences, kicker sentences, poetry, drama, dialogue — the list is endless.

140 Characters is a book about writing, and so any writer should benefit.

Why? Keeping your point short and sweet is priceless.

Twitter is obviously a format that young people respond to. How can educators take advantage of this?

The way I see it, we as educators must go where the learners learn. Currently, they are sharing life experiences and learning via social networks, and yet it can be a treacherous road to learn in public this way. We should be guiding learners with our experience in writing and reporting, and providing great examples for them to follow.

How do you personally use Twitter?

I have more than 25 accounts, in which I test every literary and personal style that I can find in 140 characters. My main account is there to represent me personally, and each company or project in which I’m involved gets an account. I’m always writing and recommending the work of others that I enjoy.

One of your companies is DollarApp. Yes. DollarApp is founded on the principle that one feature, developed in one month by one person, equals one dollar of value. Got an idea? Whittle it down to its best feature and ship it quickly.

This approach has allowed us to avoid taking any investment, ship only the apps we want, and sustain a business purely via downloads.

How is it going?

DollarApp will double in size this year to two people.

Do you produce apps yourself, or do you provide a service for others’ app products?

At first, DollarApp did do some consulting, and I’m open to it as time permits. Since each of our apps has been well-received, we have the confidence to continue producing our own ideas for the time being.

I did contribute to the official Obama ’08 iPhone app just before the [presidential] election. That app was one of the most widely distributed apps in history and is credited with generating more than 41,000 phone calls during the weeks leading up to President Obama’s victory.

I’ve also consulted with iPhoneDevCamp founder Raven Zachary’s company, Small Society, to produce their largest app to date.

Tell me about that project. iPhoneDevCamp was formed one week after the launch of iPhone, in reaction to the critique around the web-only development kit from Apple. As web developers, my friends and I embraced the standard nature of this new browser, and we were rewarded with more than 40 demos that first weekend. Since then, it has grown to an international organization, holding events every month somewhere in the world. We just completed iPadDevCamp, which attracted more than 400 of the world’s top iPhone developers, resulting in more than 50 excellent demonstrations.

What is your role?

I am one of the cofounders and an organizer of each event. My responsibilities are to secure the venue, encourage

Ed.

sponsorship, and coordinate our many satellite locations for a simultaneous, three-day contest called the Hackathon.

We believe that the best way to learn is to build, and the finest builders are minted in the fire of competition.

What makes a good app?

A good app is extremely simple, high-performing, and reliable. On the iPhone, the typical user experience is 30 seconds to one minute. That means you’ve got to provide success for the user immediately.

On iPad, there is a longer window that I’m still discovering, but the principles of simplicity and craftsmanship remain. A great app will make a very difficult task seem easy and obvious to complete.

What has been your most successful or widely adopted app?

I’m pleased to say that my most successful app to date has been Math Cards — quick quizzes in basic arithmetic for iPhone and iPod touch. It has earned a place in Apple’s “Apps for Kids” list and consistently garners good reviews.

My favorite thing about that app is when I get e-mails from kids who are using it, some of them very young.

So, when the time comes, how should I tweet the Web publication of this Q&A? You can mention it like this: “An interview with Twitter cocreator @Dom Sagolla, Ed.M.’00, about his company @ DollarApp and the @iPhoneDevCamp.”

— Marin Jorgensen

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

37

in the media Books The Artist-Teacher: A Philosophy for Creating and Teaching

Behind the Mask of the Strong Black Woman: Voice and the Embodiment of a Costly Performance Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant

G. James Daichendt

Temple University Press, 2009

Intellect Ltd, 2010

In Behind the Mask of the Strong Black Woman, Beauboeuf-Lafontant interviews 58 black women to explore the restrictive myth of the “strong black woman.” In particular, she highlights the toll that this performance of invulnerability takes, including eating disorders and depression.

Drawing on black feminist scholarship, cultural studies, and voice-centered research, the book traces the historical and social influences on black femininity, maintaining that the expectation of strength creates a distraction from broader forces of discrimination and imbalances of power. Tamara Beauboeuf-Lafontant, Ed.D.’97, is associate professor of sociology and education studies at DePauw University in Indiana.

The Artist-Teacher explores the various ways art has been taught over the centuries, using several important artist-teachers (George Wallis, Walter Gropius, Richard Hamilton, and Hans Hoffman) to illustrate the rich and deep ways artists are able to facilitate learning.

The book serves as a foundational text for those entering the teaching profession at all levels, in addition to inspiring experienced art teachers in all disciplines.

G. James Daichendt, Ed.M.’03, is an associate professor of art history and exhibitions director at Azusa Pacific University in Southern California.

College Grad Seeks Future: Turning Your Talents, Strengths, and Passions into the Perfect Career Howard Greene and Matthew Greene St. Martin’s Griffin, 2010

College Grad Seeks Future aims to help new college graduates entering the current competitive job market by showing them how not to settle. The authors help jobseekers find their true callings, pursue the field that best fits their talents and passions, and utilize their unique skills to build careers efficiently and effectively.

Howard Greene, Ed.M.’64, is a former admissions officer at Princeton University.

Education Unbound: The Promise and Practice of Greenfield Schooling Frederick Hess Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2010

harvard education Press

Humanizing Education: Critical Alternatives to Reform Edited by Gretchen Brion-Meisels, Kristy Cooper, Sherry Deckman,

Ed.

Edited by Caroline

Christina Dobbs, Chantal Francois,

Chauncey

Thomas Nikundiwe, Carla Shalaby

Forward by Robert

Harvard Education Press, 2010

Schwartz

From Dayton, Ohio, to Barcelona, Spain, this collection of essays carries readers to places where people have first imagined — and then organized — their own educational responses to dehumanizing practices and conditions. Within a context of continued calls for education reform, Humanizing Education seeks to inspire a collective imagination for radical alternatives. The contributors offer examples of hopeful and humanizing educational spaces, practices, and movements. Kristy Cooper, Ed.M.’07, Sherry Deckman, Ed.M.’07, Christina Dobbs, Ed.M.’06, Chantal Francois, Ed.M.’08, Thomas Nikundiwe, Ed.M.’07, and Carla Shalaby, Ed.M.’09 are doctoral students at the Ed School.

38

Strategic Priorities for School Improvement

Harvard Education Press, 2010

This sixth volume in the Harvard Education Letter Spotlight series is a collection of influential articles on the four areas outlined by the Obama administration as criteria for states’ entry in the Race to the Top competition. Topics discussed include: standards and assessment; using data to improve instruction; developing great teachers and leaders; and turning around failing schools. Robert Schwartz, C.A.S.’68, is the academic dean and a professor at the Ed School. Caroline Chauncey is the editor of the Harvard Education Letter and assistant director of Harvard Education Publishing Group.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

In Education Unbound, Hess advocates for an entrepreneurial approach focused on supporting outstanding teaching and learning, to inspire infrastructural change of the education system. The author builds a case for school systems marked by performance and productivity, and compelled to compete on cost and quality; personnel policies designed to attract, retain, and reward teachers and leaders committed to excellence; and education funding configured to support new ventures and foster creative problem solving. Hess argues the resolution ought not to be the creation of a new best system, but creating schools that are capable of evolving with the students and society they serve. Frederick Hess, Ed.M.’90, is a resident scholar and director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.

Feeding the Sheep

Leda Schubert, Pictures by Andrea U’Ren Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010

This picture book tells the story of a mother tending a family’s small flock of sheep, and her little girl watching

and asking, “What are you doing?” As the seasons change, the mother shears, washes, cards, dyes, spins, and knits the sheep’s wool. Told in a rhyming questionand-answer format, Feeding the Sheep is a playful and informative read-aloud. Leda Schubert, M.A.T.’71, is a faculty member at Vermont College.

Harnessing America’s Wasted Talent: A New Ecology of Learning Peter Smith

Jossey-Bass, 2010

According to Harnessing America’s Wasted Talent, statistics reveal that within 10 years, fewer than 20 percent of all ninthgraders in the United States will go on to earn associate’s degrees. In the book, Smith defines and describes innovative thinking about the current causes for our schools’ failings and discusses how these failures have profound and far-reaching social, civic, and economic consequences.

Peter Smith, M.A.T.’70, Ed.D.’83, is senior vice president of academic strategies and development for Kaplan Higher Education.

Let’s Cook! Healthy Meals for Independent Living

a group of young people construct right and wrong and what rules govern their behavior. Sharlene Swartz, Ed.M.’03, is a sociologist and senior research specialist at the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa.

No More “I’m Done!”: Fostering Independent Writers in the Primary Grades Jennifer Richard Jacobson Stenhouse, 2010

No More “I’m Done!” shows teachers how to develop a primary writers’ workshop that helps nurture independent and engaged writers. Jacobson demonstrates how to create a more productive, engaging, and rewarding writers’ workshop, creating a supportive classroom environment through establishing effective routines. The book provides an entire year of developmentally appropriate mini-lessons meant to build confidence and independence. Jennifer Richard Jacobson, Ed.M.’86, is a former primary school teacher who currently works as a literacy consultant.

Organizational Ethnography: Studying the Complexity of Everyday Life Edited by Frans Kamsteeg, Harry Wels, Dvora Yanow, Sierk Ybema

Elizabeth Riesz and Anna Kissack

Sage, 2009

Appletree Press, 2010

Organizational Ethnography presents contributions from leading scholars in organizational studies that help to develop an ethnographic perspective on organizations and organizational research.

The authors explore the special problems faced by organizational ethnographers, from questions of gaining access to research sites to various styles of writing ethnography, the role of friendship relations in the field, ethical issues, and standards for evaluating ethnographic work. Dvora Yanow, Ed.M.’76, is the strategic chair in meaning and method at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam.

Featuring more than 50 easy-to-follow recipes, Let’s Cook makes cooking accessible to everyone. Geared toward teens, special needs adults, seniors, or anyone else who needs to gain confidence in the kitchen, this guide promotes self-reliance and reinforces life skills for independent living. Elizabeth Riesz, Ed.M.’60, recently retired from her long career in education and lives in Iowa with her husband, Peter.

The Moral Ecology of South Africa’s Township Youth Sharlene Swartz

Palgrave Macmillan, 2009

This account of the moral lives of young black South Africans post-apartheid shows how partial-parenting, partial-schooling, and pervasive poverty contribute to how

Research on Urban Teacher Learning Edited by Andrea Stairs and Kelly Donnell Information Age Publishing, 2010

Research on Urban Teacher Learning Ed.

presents a range of evidence-based analyses focused on the role of contextual factors on urban teacher learning. In three parts, the book introduces the reader to the conceptual and empirical literature on urban teacher learning; shares eight research studies that examine how, what, and why urban teachers learn in the form of rich longitudinal studies; and analyzes the ways federal, state, and local policies affect urban teacher learning and highlights the synergistic relationship between urban teacher learning and context. Kelly Donnell, Ed.M.’90, is assistant professor at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island.

Seven Secrets of the Savvy School Leader Robert Evans

Jossey-Bass, 2010

In Seven Secrets, Evans seeks to answer the question, “How can we make school leadership more doable and offer hope to both experienced and beginning leaders?”

A former teacher and school consultant, the author uses his own experience with school leaders to describe the qualities and behaviors that lead to success as school administrators. Robert Evans, M.A.T.’67, Ed.D.’74, is a clinical and organizational psychologist and director of Human Relations Service in Wellesley, Mass.

The Sociocultural Turn in Psychology Edited by Suzanne

Kirschner and Jack Martin Columbia University Press, 2010

This collection of essays describes the discursive, hermeneutic, dialogical, and activity approaches to sociocultural psychology — the act of treating of psychological processes as made up within social and cultural practices. Rather than view the formation and evolution of individuals’ brains as purely biological, The Sociocultural Turn emphasizes the growth of the human mind in relation to others • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

39

ON MY BOOKSHELF: Associate Professor Mark Warren

in the media

Currently reading: Caucasia by Danzy Senna

Favorite spot to curl up with a good book: I like

First impressions: It’s beautifully and powerfully

to read in my father’s old armchair. When he was alive, he used to read to my daughters while they sat in his lap on that chair.

written. Now that I’ve tried to write a few books myself, and know how hard it is, I take great pleasure in reading terrific prose.

Noneducation genre of choice: Books about food. I should say it’s because they offer a window into the cultures of different communities and societies — and they do — but, really, it’s because I love to cook and I love to eat!

How you find the time: Mostly, I don’t. When I’m not working, I prioritize time with my family. By the time my kids are in bed, I’m often too tired to read. But I keep trying! Meanwhile, my daughters are great readers and they have no trouble finding the time to consume books. It’s not fair!

Next up: I watched a documentary on the history of whaling and that reminded me that I’ve always wanted to read Moby Dick. Where will I ever find the time for that one?

Visit www.gse.harvard.edu/ed/extras to read Warren’s complete answers.

tanit sakakini

Warren’s most recent book is Fire in the Heart: How White Activists Embrace Racial Justice.

40

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

in the world. Suzanne Kirschner, Ed.M.’82, Ed.D.’91, is associate professor of psychology at the College of the Holy Cross and a fellow of the American Psychological Association.

Teenage Tata: Voices of Young Fathers in South Africa Arvin Bhana and Sharlene Swartz HSRC Press, 2009

Teenage Tata presents an in-depth portrait of impoverished young South African men who became fathers while teenagers. Offering insights into young fathers’ personal, emotional, financial, and cultural struggles as they come to terms with fatherhood, this study highlights their strong sense of responsibility, depicting poignant accounts of emotional engagement with their children and the women in their lives and analyzing the motivating power of their own absent fathers on their parenting intentions. Sharlene Swartz, Ed.M.’03, is a sociologist and senior research specialist at the Human Sciences Research Council in South Africa.

The Twenty-first Century University: Developing Faculty Engagement in Internationalization Lisa Childress

Peter Lang Publishing, 2009

The Twenty-first Century University identifies what successful institutions have done to overcome internal challenges and successfully engage faculty in the internationalization process. Examining two cases of internationalization, this book extrapolates strategies for colleges and universities to adapt to their unique institutional cultures, histories, and priorities, to support faculty in internationalizing their teaching, research, and service. Lisa Childress, Ed.M.’99, has served as an internationalization leader at universities in the United States and Japan.

Unwanted Hair and Hirsutism Alison Amoroso

YourHealthPress, 2009

In this book, Amoroso defines the differences between “unwanted hair” and

Naturally Educational: Learning and Discovering Through Play and Exploration www.naturallyeducational.com

the medical problem of hirsutism. All available treatments and hair removal techniques are explored, including risks and benefits of each. Useful charts and illustrations, combined with accessible language, make this book a resource for women of all ages who may be silently plagued by this health problem. Alison Amoroso, Ed.M.’90, has been writing and editing on women’s health for more than 20 years.

Candace Lindemann

Why Good Kids Act Cruel: The Hidden Truth about the Pre-Teen Years Carl Pickhardt

Sourcebooks, 2010

The question of why good children treat one another badly is one that parents often seek to answer as their children approach high-school age. Unfortunately, by that time, it may be too late. In Why Good Kids Act Cruel, Pickhardt explores adolescence — a stage filled with anxiety, uncertainty, and insecurity — and explains how even the best and the brightest kids can end up being cruel to others while giving parents tools to help their children through the difficult times.

Carl Pickhardt, Ed.M.’66, is a psychologist and author living in Austin, Texas.

Naturally Educational is dedicated to the idea that children learn naturally through play and exploration, and that with the help from their parents, professional educators, and a few carefully chosen materials, kids can fulfill their innate potential. The website seeks to build a community dedicated to quality curricula, advising on education initiatives, and consulting on the creation and use of learning toys and products to empower a child’s learning potential. Candace Lindemann, Ed.M.’00, is a curriculum designer and educational writer and the founder of Naturally Educational.

Observances and Inferences www.shanetutwiler.blogspot.com Michael Shane Tutwiler

Tutwiler’s personal blog explores observations of current trends in education research and practice and deduces how they might affect learners.

Michael Shane Tutwiler is a doctoral student studying the intersect of science education and technology at the Ed School.

Blogs and More The Itinerant Professor www.donheller.blogspot.com Don Heller

Started while on sabbatical in London last year, Heller’s personal blog contains musings on higher education policy issues in the United States and abroad, as well as anything else that, as he writes, “strikes [his] fancy.” Don Heller, Ed.M.’92, Ed.D.’97, is a professor of education and director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education at Penn State University.

Ed.

Ed. magazine provides notice, on a spaceavailable basis, of recently published books, blogs, podcasts, and websites by HGSE faculty, alumni, and students. Send your name, degree, and year of graduation, along with the title of the book, the publisher, and date of publication, or a URL link to your blog, podcast, or website.

Ed. magazine, In the Media Harvard Graduate School of Education Office of Communications 44R Brattle Street Cambridge, MA 02138 E-mail: medianotes@gse.harvard.edu Fax: 617-495-7629

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

41

alumni news and notes 1957

Abdulwahid Lu’lu’a, Ed.M., is settled in the United Arab Emirates as cultural consultant to the governor of Dubai. He has published nine books on literary topics. Lu’lu’a hopes to touch base with old friends from Harvard through this note: awlulua@yahoo.com.

1962

Vaughn Nelson, Ed.M., wrote the chapter on wind energy for Texas Renewable Resource

Assessment, 2008. The report is available online from the State Energy Conservation Office. His book, Wind Energy: Renewable Energy and the Environment, was published in March 2009 by CRC Press.

leading “self-made leaders of this generation.” He is executive-inresidence at the Sawyer Business School at Suffolk University in Boston and president of Stybel Peabody Lincolnshire, founded in 1979.

1978

1979

Larry Stybel, Ed.D., is producer and host of Inside Leadership, a national program sponsored by the Center for Innovation & Change Leadership where the “next generation of self-made leaders” get to interview the

It was held at St. George’s House on the grounds of Windsor Castle in England.

Ron Kronish at Windsor Castle

Ronald Kronish, Ed.D., participated in a special consultation titled “Effective and Sustainable Reconciliation” in May with 30 scholars and practitioners from the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, Sierre Leone, and Israel.

PROFILE

Autumn McDonald, Ed.M.’07, is thinking about the world and her place in it.

42

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

is possible is changed, as is their desire to achieve success and [their] confidence in their ability to do it.”

As national director of strategic initiatives, McDonald has helped expand Genesys Works into other cities. The St. Paul, Minn., branch — which opened in 2008 — boasts participation from Fortune 500 companies like 3M, Ecolab, and Land ‘O Lakes. Chicago opened earlier this year, with a New York branch soon to follow. The expansion is a big reason why McDonald, who started as a consultant, decided to accept a permanent role with the organization.

“I was excited to see how Genesys Works planned to take the program beyond impacting a few hundred students, and wanted to become a part of that process,” she says.

And the flexibility doesn’t hurt. McDonald also runs her company, Catalyst Education Consulting, allowing her to stay involved in all the diverse areas of education that interest her, from policy to research to curriculum design, as well as meet others who, like her, want to affect the education sector for the better.

“It’s great to work with people who are passionate about the same issues, and there are some truly brilliant people in this field,” she says. “It is a pleasure to work alongside them and be thought partners, trying to tackle big issues on a whiteboard.” courtesy of autumn mcdonald

When asked what the appeal is of working in the nonprofit sector, Autumn McDonald, Ed.M.’07, answers simply, “The people.”

She says, “I was always drawn to mission- and vision-driven organizations that saw a time or space when educational opportunities would be different, and those not receiving an outstanding education experience would.”

Genesys Works is just the kind of people-driven organization she means. Based in Houston, the nonprofit in which McDonald serves as national director of strategic initiatives places lowincome, urban high school seniors into challenging work environments such as Continental Airlines, Exxon, and NASA. Its goal is to raise students’ confidence to the point where higher education and professional futures are a given. Since the organization was founded in 2002, about 95 percent of Genesys Works’ graduates have enrolled in college immediately following the completion of high school; many of them are the first in their families to do so.

This degree of success doesn’t surprise McDonald, having seen the progress firsthand.

“I could see this transition happening in individual students who were becoming more excited and confident about their futures and simultaneously taking steps to achieve it in the internships, in school, and in their pursuit of postsecondary education,” she says. “[Through the program,] their belief of what

— Marin Jorgensen

1983

Jim Killacky, Ed.D., just completed his second year as professor of education and director of the doctoral program in educational leadership at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C. In May, he was recognized as faculty mentor of the year at the ASU Reich College of Education.

1985

Jotham Johnson, Ed.M., retired in June after nearly 30 years at Princeton University’s Alumni and Development Offices, principally as director of leadership and director of stewardship. At reunion weekend in May, Johnson was one of three alumni to receive the Alumni Council’s award for service to Princeton.

He hopes to keep involved with some consulting work.

1989

Richard Finnegan, Ed.M., has been awarded distinguished Fulbright chair in the faculty of social science at Masaryk University for 2010–11.

John Moran, Ed.M., became the superintendent of Valley Christian Schools in Dublin, Calif., in August 2008. He just completed a five-year strategic plan that is aimed at achieving excellence in academics and student leadership, and has included the schools in the Quest Institute to develop curriculum and instruction standards for Valley Christian Schools. He is currently working with an international group to develop an international school in Korea.

1991

James Caradonio, Ed.D., former superintendent of schools in Worcester, Mass., recently had a school in the city named for him. The Dr. James A. Caradonio New Citizen Center serves children from overseas with significant gaps in their education, either because they were in refugee camps or were out of school for other reasons.

1992

The HGSE Recent Alumni Circle Committee of Washington, D.C., hosted a networking event on March 22, 2010, featuring the panel, “Education in Theory and Practice: Discussing the Tension Between Theory and Practice and Applying What We Learned at HGSE in our Work Everyday.”

1999 Don Heller’s vanity plate

Donald Heller, Ed.M., Ed.D.’97, was recently reappointed to a second three-year term as director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education at Penn State. The center has 14 faculty and two dozen graduate assistants who conduct research on all aspects of higher education in the United States and other countries.

1994

Steven Seleznow, Ed.M.’80, Ed.D., moved from the Gates Foundation to the Arizona Community Foundation in March. He is the president and chief executive officer.

1998

Elizabeth Cowles Gavron, Ed.M., has been appointed principal of Wayland (Mass.) Middle School. Gavron previously served as assistant principal of the school, after teaching mathematics there for 10 years and serving as house leader for nine of those years.

Nicholas Leonardos, Ed.M., was hired as principal of the Maria L. Baldwin School in Cambridge, Mass. He writes, “I am leaving South School in Stoneham after eight terrific years and am looking forward to a wonderful term at the Baldwin.”

setts Department of Early Education and Care. She recently returned from a month-long trip around the world that included a visit to the Dead Sea. In her free time she supports causes for children with autism.

Alicia Savage, Ed.M., recently was named executive director of the South Shore Charter Public School in Norwell, Mass., after two decades in the Boston Public Schools.

2000

Kathleen Hart

Nadine Butcher Ball, Ed.D., was promoted to full professor at Maryville University in St. Louis, Mo., after successfully initiating sustainability initiatives campus-wide. In her free time, Ball enjoys spending time on the Mississippi in kayaks with her husband, Tom, and tending their cats.

2002

Kathleen Hart, Ed.M., is the administrative director for the commissioner of the Massachu-

2003

Katrina Sarson, Ed.M., recently completed a documentary, Teaching Creativity: Is Art the Answer?, that explores the state of arts education in public schools around Oregon. The film, which aired on Oregon Public Broadcasting in May, can be viewed at www.opb.org/ teachingcreativity.

John Moran Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

43

alumni news and notes 2004

Jesse Howes, Ed.M., who worked with children at Project Joy in Boston, passed away on February 27, 2010, in Jamaica from pancreatic cancer.

Steven Kirby, Ed.M., founded a nonprofit to house, educate,

courtesy of corinne varon-green

Jeffrey Chan, Ed.M., filed his Ph.D. dissertation, “To Improvise is Human: Reconsidering Planning the Society of Risk,” at the University of California, Berkeley in December 2009.

This dissertation, written in the field of planning and design theory, considers how to teach

practical improvisation in planning schools.

PROFILE

Corinne Varon-Green, Ed.D.’04,

is doing her best to finish her career with a bang.

Nearly 40 years ago, Corinne Varon-Green, Ed.D.’04, was sitting on a park bench on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston when she met a poet. Varon-Green, a painter who had just emigrated from Peru, was still finding her bearings in her new country and asked the stranger how a person could make a living as an artist. The poet suggested substitute teaching — it offered great flexibility for an artist to work on her craft. This simple suggestion would lead Varon-Green to what would become her career: education.

Varon-Green spent the next two decades teaching in Boston and Cambridge before she began her doctoral studies at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The same year, she left the classroom to become district coordinator for the bilingual

44

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

PHOTO FINISH Send your high-resolution digital photos to classnotes@ gse.harvard.edu. Photos that are not in focus, dark, or at a low resolution may not be usable. Please identify the people in the photo and include a few lines of context.

Due to space constraints, we may not be able to print all photos but we will do our best!

in English language acquisitions and programs in Cambridge.

Varon-Green loved teaching, but she knew the coordinator position would bring better pay and would provide a better platform from which to strengthen cultural awareness in the community.

As a coordinator in what she calls the “golden age of bilingual education,” Varon-Green helped to create many language education curriculums, including kindergarten programs taught in Chinese, Korean, and Haitian-Creole with French. Then, in November 2002, a ballot initiative passed requiring that all public classrooms be taught in English. Varon-Green’s bilingual programs disintegrated.

“That was the hardest disappointment I have ever had in my life,” she says.

Two years ago, Varon-Green returned to teaching at the Amigos School, where she had taught for 10 years earlier in her career. Amigos is a two-way English and Spanish immersion school in Cambridge that fosters multicultural relationships.

“Research demonstrates that the students coming out of Amigos outperform monolingual students,” explains Varon-Green.

“Learning two languages represents an academic advantage to any student no matter the background.”

And she is glad to be back. “Returning to the classroom has brought community to my life again,” she says. “As a school administrator I was very isolated. I didn’t meet the parents, I didn’t meet the kids.” She admits the curriculum is more regimented, putting a strain on teachers’ structure. “I have to be economical with my time,” she explains, so she incorporates her passion for the arts into her second-graders’ math lessons by having them create three-dimensional models of cities.

She also keeps her students engaged through Reading Buddies, a program that recruits staff and students from the Ed School to volunteer time once a week for the length of the academic year to read to an Amigos student. All the books are provided by Harvard and handpicked by the second-graders.

“The relationships are precious,” says Varon-Green. “The children look forward to [it] like I’ve never seen. They don’t look forward to anything else — not even a field trip!”

— Jazmin Brooks

PROFILE

Atif Rafique, Ed.M.’03, is thinking how right The world has been Atif Rafique’s playground. Or, more precisely, it’s been his office. From England to the United States to Pakistan to Tanzania and, finally, back to England, Rafique, Ed.M.’03, has traveled the globe in pursuit of a single goal: social inclusion for all.

After studying as an undergraduate at the London School of Economics, Rafique enrolled at the Ed School to immerse himself in education, which he felt at the time was “the key to improving life’s chances.” What he came to learn, though, was that not only was education an essential component to tackling poverty, but so was family.

“The evidence on the intergenerational transfer of disadvantage is really quite clear,” Rafique explains. “If parents have problems and experience disadvantage, then we need to tackle that at the same time. My goal now is not merely about ensuring I can contribute to better education for children, but to ensure it is part of a wider commitment to tackling intergenerational disadvantage.”

So, after stints with the World Bank in Pakistan, where he worked to promote the inclusion of people with disabilities — “I was so excited about the job that I jumped on a plane and missed the [HGSE] graduation ceremony” — and the Dar es Salaam, Tanzania–based Aga Khan University, Institute of Educational Development, Rafique returned to Britain.

Now, as a member of the British Cabinet Office’s Social Exclusion Task Force, he focuses on strategy and policy with regard to the socially excluded. The group regularly deals with citizens affected by issues such as substance abuse, unemployment, and homelessness.

and rehabilitate Haitian orphans after surviving the earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010.

For information, visit www. haitihero.org.

2006

Diana Cheng, Ed.M., received her Ed.D. from Boston University School of Education. Her dissertation was about middle school students’ reasoning about steepness, a topic in mathematics education. Ed School Assistant Professor Jon

Star served on her dissertation committee.

2007

Kelly Langan, Ed.M., was named as one of five finalists for Massachusetts Teacher of the Year in May. As a finalist, she was honored at the State House in June and received $2,000 toward professional development or classroom resources from Hannaford Supermarkets. She is a third-grade teacher at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., School in Cambridge, Mass.

courtesy of atif rafique

someone was when they said all you need in life is love and money.

“At worst, people experiencing complex problems like these often fall through the net of mainstream service provision, and at best, services focus on one of the problems in isolation,” Rafique explains. “The job of the task force is to ensure there are systems in place to ensure that the socially excluded get the support . . . they need to grip all their problems.”

Although the task force is young — it was created in 2006 — it has already experienced some success. Its Think Family program expands on Britain’s Sure Start early education program to include adult services, ensuring that a parent’s needs are being met at the same time as a child’s, the first step to solving the problem of intergenerational disadvantage.

Rafique remains committed despite the many discouragements along the way. Too little money, not enough time, and resistance to change are common challenges. But Rafique and his colleagues are undeterred.

“In the words of our director, Naomi Eisenstaedt,” he says, “‘you need plenty of charm to do what we do.’”

— Marin Jorgensen

Kristin Michaelson, Ed.M., and her husband, Zachary, are thrilled to announce the birth of their first child, Trent Breckinridge. He was born on May 4, 2010.

2008

2009

Patty DePalma, Ed.M., will be acting as vice consul in Monterrey, Mexico, for her first diplomatic posting with the Foreign Service.

Logan Smalley, Ed.M., traveled to South Africa to teach a course, Power of Living/Power of Giving, which includes a screening of his film, Darius Goes West.

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

45

alumni news and notes Commencement 2010 Armed with Spanish-language picture books and a year’s worth of memories, the 2010 graduating class welcomed warm weather, a new school song, and celebrities like Meryl Streep and David Souter. Visit www.gse.harvard.edu/ed/extras to view more commencement photos, as well as stories and a video.

46

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

In Memory Donald Smith, GSE’35

David Purpel, M.A.T.’56, Ed.D.’61

Robert Howard, Ed.D.’86

Mrs. Robert Schwarzmann, Ed.M.’40

G. Wendell Stearns, Ed.D.’57

Michael Richards, Ed.M.’90

Mary Willis Dobbins, M.A.T.’41

William Hull, GSE’60

Ellen Lefcourt, Ed.M.’94

Eliot Silverman, M.A.T.’41

Christopher Newcombe, M.A.T.’61

Cyril Devery Jr., Ed.M.’04

Frederick Eugene Ellis, Ed.M.’44, Ed.D.’48

Markley Opdyke, M.A.T.’61

Gloria Gallic Perkins, GSE’45

Evelyn Shakir, M.A.T.’61

Robert Shaver, M.A.T.’46

Phillip Alan Wicky, M.A.T.’61

John Grady, GSE’47

Willease Frye, Ed.M.’62

Arthur Pethybridge, GSE’49

Robert Michalek, Ed.M.’63

Olga Santora, Ed.M.’52

Loretta Rosenthal, M.A.T.’66

Kenneth Lowell Beasley, M.A.T.’53

Hersha Fisher, M.A.T.’67, C.A.S.’75, Ed.D.’80

Gerald Atkinson, M.A.T.’54

Jane Knitzer, Ed.M.’64, Ed.D.’68

Henry Collins, M.A.T.’55

Elizabeth Faherty, Ed.M.’72

Donald Elwell, M.A.T.’55

Thomas Battiste, Ed.M.’75

Carmen Chance Mayer, Ed.M.’55

Janet Waldron, Ed.M.’75

Joan Huth Gartside, Ed.M.’56

Christopher Thomas, Ed.M.’79

CLASSNOTES/ADDRESS UPDATE NAME: YEAR(S)/DEGREE(S): ADDRESS: CITY:

STATE:

ZIP:

E-MAIL: NOTES FOR PUBLICATION IN ED. OR ON THE ALUMNI WEBSITE: Ed. and the Alumni Relations Office welcome news from HGSE alumni about employment, activities, or publications.

Classnotes will appear either in Ed. or on the alumni website.

Please e-mail your classnote to classnotes@ gse.harvard.edu or submit online at www.gse.harvard.edu/alumni_friends/ classnotes/submit_note.

Classnotes can also be mailed to: Ed. magazine, Classnotes Harvard Graduate School of Education Office of Communications 44R Brattle Street Cambridge, MA 02138

r I do not want MY classnote on the web. r I want MY classnote only on the web.

Ed.

r this is a new address.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

47

jill and ers on

recess

Shutter Bug by Lory Hough Not everyone likes Professor Dan Koretz’s photography.

Students and friends occasionally say it’s “gross.” His wife won’t let him hang some of it in their house. And Koretz doesn’t quite understand why.

Bugs and spiders, he says, can be really interesting.

Especially when photographed the way he likes to photograph them: up close.

“In lots of cultures, bugs are not seen as aversive. In fact, in many cultures, people eat them,” Koretz says smiling.

“When you look very closely, you can see that many of them are fascinating creatures, and some, such as damselflies, are really beautiful.”

Of course, bugs and spiders are not the only things Koretz shoots. Lately, he’s also been into flowers and mushrooms.

But no matter the subject, what really intrigues Koretz is how he takes the photos: using a macro lens that lets him capture images that are at least as big as the real-life subjects. This approach, Koretz says, can turn seemingly boring subjects into beautiful pieces of art. In his office, for instance, a close-up shot of five dried, brown hydrangea blossoms — uninspiring if

48

Ed.

• Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010

photographed at their regular size — shows an intricate veinlike pattern with light filtering through.

This is Koretz’s second foray in photography. He first picked up a film camera, a 35mm, single-lens reflex Mamiya Sekor, when he was in college. Eventually, he got too busy to spend serious time with the hobby, and so when his camera broke, he decided to stop photographing. Years passed before he got interested again.

“Once digital cameras got better, I thought it was foolish not to be shooting, so I got a new camera,” Koretz says, this time a Canon 50D. When a knee injury sidelined him from other hobbies like hiking, he decided to focus on the easieron-the-knees macro photography with an emphasis on nature.

“It’s hard to find things in a household or office that are interesting in detail, but in nature, it’s easy,” he says. “If you look close enough.”

Even if it is a barn spider eating a bug for dinner.

Visit www.dkoretz.smugmug.com to view more of Koretz’s work.

impact the world

passion

commit ment

Do you know individuals who share:

Your for education

Your to making the world a better place

belief

Your that education is central to the well-being of society If they share your dream of transforming education, we invite you to refer them to us:

www.gse.harvard.edu/admissions/connect/referral

Academic programs Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) Doctor of Education Leadership (Ed.L.D.) Master of Education (Ed.M.) • Arts in Education • Education Policy & Management • Higher Education • Human Development & Psychology • International Education Policy • Language & Literacy • Learning & Teaching • Mind, Brain, & Education • Prevention Science & Practice • School Leadership • Special Studies • Teacher Education • Technology, Innovation, & Education

We’ll make sure they graduate ready to impact the world.

Admissions Office 49 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • fall 2010 111 Longfellow Hall , 13 Appian Way, Cambridge, MA 02138 | Phone: 617-495-3414 | Fax: 617-496-3577 | gseadmissions@harvard.edu | www.gse.harvard.edu/admissions

Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Burlington, VT Permit No. 70

Think you can top these photos? E-mail us a picture of yourself (or someone in your family) reading Ed. and you may find yourself on the back cover, too. classnotes@gse.harvard.edu

courtesy of jason glick

courtesy of kathleen stuebing

courtesy of Maxine glass

Harvard Graduate School of Education Office of Communications 44R Brattle Street Cambridge, MA 02138

Where’s Ed.?

Clockwise, top to bottom: Maxine Glass, Ed.M.’10, relaxes with her favorite magazine this past July in the Dead Sea. Kathy Steubing, Ed.M.’89, Ed.D.’94, reads on the banks of the Ambezi River in Zambia, where she has lived since 1970, and where she works at the Theological College of Central Africa. Closer to home, Jason Glick, Ed.M.’05, shares the magazine with his fifth-grade homeroom students at the Saint Andrew’s School in Boca Raton, Fla., where he has been teaching for three years.