[center stage]
Moving forward again
Institute provides students with valuable leadership experience
By Leah Stoltzfus
T
he Institute for Democracy in Education (IDE) breathed new life under the leadership of Dr. John Hitchcock and Dr. Jerry Johnson, both professors in the Department of Educational Studies. Originally founded in 1985, IDE was labeled inactive in 2004 when funding dropped, leaving the institute unable to support itself. In 2009, IDE was reconsidered and is currently being repurposed in alignment with The Patton College’s current mission. “The Institute for Democracy in Education has been around for a while and has worked in various ways with various emphases over time,” Dr. Johnson said, “but all in the service of the same mission, which is promoting democratic education and educational policies and practices that are responsive and attentive to marginalized groups.” As part of the new vision, the IDE seeks to be a research and evaluation-based program that will eventually become selfsustaining through external funding. The IDE provides K-12 schools with external evaluations to help them understand if the programs they are implementing are truly effective. “Rather than move along assuming that things work as intended, research and program evaluation will try to generate empirical information to help document that it, in fact, has the effect that they think it does,” Dr. Hitchcock said. “And if it doesn’t, why? And what changes can we make over time?” “In the simplest sense,” Dr. Johnson added, “they’re doing what they think is the best thing to do for these kids. They want us to study their school and tell them whether it’s working or not.” Dr. Hitchcock explained that during the past ten years, there has been a change in education, and that change has brought a focus toward empiricism (making data-based decisions). IDE can provide that external and objective evaluation and research, which not only aids in the necessary steps for funding, but more importantly provides an understanding of the effectiveness of various school progra “We operate in a world where, in education, kids are always being educated, they are always being treated somehow [and] there’s always an intervention that’s going on. So we’re trying to figure out which of the many options might be the best,” Dr. Hitchcock explained, “and all of them have theory to support
them if you will. We’re trying to find data that suggest that one might be more effective to address a given thing than another.” “The really broad mission of the IDE is to try to help make K-12 schools better and more responsive to all kids,” Dr. Johnson said. “The Patton College believes in that; that’s why they want to have a center that does that.” Drs. Hitchcock and Johnson both have backgrounds that make them strong innovators for the revision of the IDE. Dr. Hitchcock is quick to brag about Dr. Johnson: “He is a national expert in understanding the needs and ways to help, in particular rural K-12 schools. He’s done testimonies to the U.S. Congress before. By “national” I’m not kidding, he really does that stuff.” Dr. Hitchcock, too, has a strong aptitude, specializing in mixed-methods research designs, with content expertise in special education, culturally sensitive research, English language learners and school psychology services. Dr. Johnson added, “We both have past experience before we came to the university doing this kind of work on a national basis. So some of what we’re trying to do now through the nstitute is use that as a vehicle for bringing some of the stuff that we’ve been doing in places like Texas and New Mexico and Oregon, and apply some of that here.” When it comes to co-directing, Dr. Johnson remarked, “It’s a good match.” While Dr. Hitchcock has his own description: “We’re Batman and Robin. I’m Robin.” Whatever the metaphor, it is clear that both Drs. Johnson and Hitchcock bring extensive skills and far-reaching experience to IDE. They are enthusiastic co-directors, eager to share what they are doing and where they are going with the repurposed IDE.
Dr. John Hitchcock, Educational Research
Dr. Jerry Johnson, Education Administration
The mission of the Institute for Democracy in Education is to promote democratic education and educational policies and practices that are responsive and attentive to marginalized groups. 41