Faculty and Staff News Archive

SOE, SPHHS faculty share $799k grant for training speech-language pathologists

Faculty in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences and the School of Education have been awarded a four-year, $796,809 Personnel Preparation Grant from the U.S. Department of Education to support speech-language pathology doctoral students focusing on special education.

	Participating faculty are (clockwise from top left) are Patricia Mercaitis, Mary Lynn Boscardin, Elena Zaretsky, Mary Andrianopoulos and Shelley Velleman.

The participating faculty are Mary Andrianopoulos, Elena Zaretsky, Shelley Velleman and Patricia Mercaitis in the Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) program in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, and Mary Lynn Boscardin of the Special Education concentration in the School of Education.

According to Andrianopoulos, the grant will help address a critical shortage of speech-language pathology Ph.D.s nationally and support the development of the next generation of research scientists and faculty. The grant will support between five and seven Speech-Language Pathology doctoral students planning to major in topics related to SLP with a minor in Special Education between 2009-13, she said. The doctoral students will conduct empirically-based research to assess the effectiveness of various remedial approaches to manage and educate individuals with communicative disabilities, including autism spectrum disorders.

It is the second such grant given to the group by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) in two years. Last year, they received a four-year, $799,602 award. According to Andrianopoulos, the faculty members have been awarded more than $2.3 million by the federal agency over the past five years. “These faculty were funded thanks to their significant contributions to the professions and empirical research,” she said.

Two previously awarded autism personnel preparation grants from DOE are supporting 48 master’s students in Speech-Language Pathology between 2005 and 2013.

“Both grants allow the SLP concentration in Communication Disorders to attract and recruit higher-caliber students to the department, and also to enhance its national reputation,” Andrianopoulos said. “In 2008, U.S. News and World Report ranked the Speech-Language Pathology program in the Department of Communication Disorders in the top 30 graduate programs in the country. Moreover, the Special Education concentration at UMass Amherst was ranked in the top 50 programs nationally.”

The autism training grants also provide strong support for the Communication Disorders Department’s service mission, she said, by increasing and improving clinical services for people with autism in the Center for Language, Speech and Hearing. The center is an on-campus graduate teaching clinic that provides assessment and treatment services for residents of the Pioneer Valley and New England. SLP faculty and grant-related supervisors also send their practicum students to carry out graduate internships in local area schools, early intervention programs and other acute care and rehabilitation agencies. “They also contribute to community awareness and support for families with children with autism spectrum disorders,” said Andrianopoulos.

In addition, she said, the autism training grants enhance and support the research focus within the Department of Communication Disorders with respect to neurodevelopmental communication and motor speech disorders as well as literacy development in children with autism spectrum disorders. Graduate students supported by the grant carry out cutting-edge research projects and as members of the autism community, including school systems, learn about their work and volunteer to assist in the research endeavors of the five faculty members.

The team of faculty also networks and collaborates with other autism specialists in the Pioneer Valley and across the state, as well as in other countries, including Greece, Morocco, India and South Africa, said Andrianopoulos.

Quoted

Dr. Ryan Wells, Department of Educational Policy, Research and Administration, says in a study he co-authored that if community colleges want to increase job satisfaction among part-time faculty, the schools should boost employee benefits. Read the article in Inside Higher Ed (4/16/09) and in Chronicle of Higher Education's Daily News at (4/23/09).

Drs. Austin and Turner co-author article on educational technology

School of Education faculty members Nat Turner and Theresa Austin co-authored an article that will appear in the April/May issue of the Multicultural Education & Technology Journal.

The article, titled “Using digital technologies to address Aboriginal adolescents’ education: An alternative school intervention,” was co-written by Fatima Pirbhai Illich of the University of Regina, Saskatchewan.

The piece reports on an ongoing ethnographic study that examines how digital literacies can motivate aboriginal youth to engage in academic literacy.

Austin and Pirbhai Illich will present an update on their project next month at the American Educational Research Association’s annual conference in San Diego.

Turner is an assistant professor and Austin is an associate professor in the Language, Literacy and Culture concentration in the Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies Department.

School of Education’s research critical to College Board’s book

Research conducted by Dr. John C. Carey and Dr. Carey Dimmitt of the School of Education’s Center for School Counseling Outcome Research (CSCOR) forms the basis of “Innovation & Inspiration: Ten Effective Counseling Practices from the College Board's Inspiration Award Schools,” published recently by the College Board.

“The College Board's advocacy department is distributing the booklet nationally to superintendents, high school principals and school counselors as part of their college readiness initiative,” said Dr. Carey. “This initiative is very consistent with Massachusetts Governor Patrick's readiness initiative. The College Board is using it to promote changes in school counseling programs in high poverty-high minority schools in order to increase college readiness.”

The booklet highlights counseling practices that have proven effective in helping make college a reality for minority, low-income, immigrant, and first-generation students. It is based on research sponsored in 2006 by the College Board's National Office for School Counselor Advocacy (NOSCA) of the school counseling practices, skills and dispositions that are found in Inspiration Award Schools. The study, conducted by CSCOR, identified 10 activities characteristic of many of these successful counseling programs.

The School of Education's Center for School Counseling Outcome Research is dedicated to improving the practice of school counseling by developing the research base that is necessary for responsible and effective practice.

Dr. Nugent comments on cross-cultural friendship at MSNBC.com

Dr. Kevin Nugent of the School of Education’s Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies and director of the Brazelton Institute at the Children’s Hospital in Boston says President Barack Obama and his family are providing an example for changing attitudes about race and ethnicity in the country. The comments are in a story about the popularity of a new podcast that highlights cross-cultural friendships and teaching for children. (MSNBC.com, 1/30/09)

Read the article

Career Planning Grant Awarded

Dr. John C. Carey, professor in the department of Student Development and Pupil Personnel Services and director of the School of Education’s Center for School Counseling Outcome Research (CSCOR), has received a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to lead Phase II of a Career Planning Implementation Project. With Karen Harrington, senior research fellow at CSCOR, Dr. Carey will facilitate a group established in 2008 to provide leadership on best practices in career planning to Massachusetts school counselors. Dr. Carey will also co-develop a statewide technology conference for school counselors in vocational/technical high schools to be held in Winter 2009.

Dr. Gretchen B. Rossman to Receive Outstanding Graduate Faculty Member Centennial Award

School of Education professor Gretchen B. Rossman has been named a recipient of the Outstanding Graduate Faculty Member Centennial Award from the Graduate School at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In celebration of a century of scholarship, the Graduate School selected one outstanding faculty member from each school and college in the University to receive the award.

According to the Graduate School, Dr. Rossman was selected as an “exemplar of the faculty who provide guidance and mentorship to graduate students through chairs and membership on student thesis and dissertation committees.” The Graduate School noted that Dr. Rossman’s service “provides the backbone of the excellence that is the Graduate School at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.”

Dr. Rossman is a Professor of Education in the Department of Educational Policy, Research and Administration in the School of Education, and is associated with the School’s Center for International Education. She served as Visiting Professor at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education and spent a recent sabbatical as Visiting Scholar at the University of Hong Kong. Her domestic research interests focus on the close examination of the school- and district-level elements necessary to create collaborative, responsive learning settings. She has conducted multisite studies of systemic change in high schools; of inclusion initiatives for students with disabilities in rural, suburban, and urban districts; and of teachers' roles in systemic reform.

She is an expert in qualitative research, teaching courses in qualitative research methods, qualitative research design, and participatory action research methods. Her book, “Designing Qualitative Research,” now in its third edition, helps students develop sound dissertation proposals. Her most recent book, “Learning in the Field” (co-authored with Dr.Sharon Rallis) is an introductory text.

Dr. Rossman will receive her award on September 23 at a luncheon in honor of all of the award recipients held in the Campus Center.

School of Education Professor Dr. Willett to Receive University President’s Public Service Award

Dr. Jerri Willett, chair of the School of Education’s Department of Teacher Preparation and Curriculum Studies Department, has been named a recipient of the President’s Public Service Award for 2008, according to the Office of the President of the University of Massachusetts. Dr. Willett will receive the award along with other outstanding faculty at a ceremony and luncheon on Nov. 19 in the Great Hall of the Massachusetts State House in Boston.

Dr.Willett, a Conway resident, has earned an international reputation for her work on language and literacy. She has been a compelling advocate for the professional development of teachers of second language learners.

Her accomplishments include establishing the Access through Critical Content and English Language Acquisition (ACCELA) Alliance which is a federal and state-funded professional development collaboration among UMass Amherst, the Springfield, Holyoke and Amherst, Mass., public school districts, and several community organizations in western Massachusetts. ACCELA supports academic literacy development of linguistically and culturally diverse students attending public schools by providing their teachers with data-driven professional development activities.

ACCELA scholarships and programs have supported:

• 21 paraprofessionals and community educators from Holyoke and Springfield to complete their bachelor’s degrees
• 63 teachers from Holyoke and Springfield to complete their master’s degrees and ESL licensure or Reading licensure
• teacher-educator apprentices to pursue doctoral studies. These apprentices both supported the teacher’s action research projects and conducted their own research on teaching and learning in Holyoke and Springfield.
• administrators and instructional leaders in Holyoke and Springfield to receive professional development
• 34 UMass Amherst faculty to participate in professional development, many of whom engaged in collaborative research with ACCELA participants.

Dr. Willett is currently working to expand the ACCELA program across the Commonwealth.

Drs. Hambledon and Sireci receive score equating analysis grant

Professors Ronald K. Hambleton, and Stephen G. Sireci, co-chairpersons of the University of Massachusetts Amherst's School of Education’s Research and Evaluation Methods Program, and executive director and director, respectively, of its Center for Educational Assessment, have received a contract from Measured Progress, Inc. and the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MDESE), to perform score equating analysis and related technical work for the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS.)

Contract-sponsored activities will include the statistical equating analysis of the 2008 MCAS tests, an analysis of the content and statistical matches between operational tests and the equating items of the 2008 tests, a study of the optimality of the current MCAS tests, making recommendations about test development for future MCAS tests, and providing technical consultation to the MDESE.

Dr. Cristine Smith Awarded UNICEF grant

Dr. Cristine Smith has received a 3-month, $25,000 grant from UNICEF to carry out a desk review to explore opportunities for future UNICEF support of non-formal education (NFE) equivalence and skills training programs for adolescents in East Asia and Pacific regions.

The desk review team will review and analyze relevant NFE efforts towards accreditation for adolescents who attend NFE programs and then seek to mainstream into primary or lower secondary school at an age-appropriate level, and innovative NFE projects that help adolescents- particularly girls, ethnic minorities and urban-dwellers- acquire or improve their literacy, health, livelihood and general life skills.

Dr. Smith, assistant professor at the School of Education and a member of its Center for International Education, serves as principal investigator of the desk review.

Dr. Smith receives assistantship

Assistant Professor Cristine Smith, department of Educational Policy, Research and Administration, has received a Commonwealth Corporation assistantship for research and evaluation activities supporting Youth Pathways Projects related to drop-out prevention, working with at-risk youth and youth in judicial custody, and Sector Strategy Projects addressing skills needs and shortages in key sectors such as health care, life sciences and “green” jobs.

The supported activities will include: literature reviews on workforce development topics such as adult and youth transitions to post-secondary education, high school and post-secondary student retention, approaches to vocational and occupational training, and integration of immigrants into the workforce; and, evaluation of Commonwealth Corporation-administered projects in western Massachusetts including design, implementation and summarization of surveys.

The Boston-based Commonwealth Corporation builds upward mobility pathways for Massachusetts youth and adults to prepare for high demand careers in concert with regional and state partners.

Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning Conference Held at SOE

More photos can be seen here...

The 15th Annual Sociocultural Theory and Second Language Learning Working Group met at the UMass School of Education in Furcolo Hall October 16-18 with more than 80 national and international attendees. Associate Professor Theresa Austin, Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies (TECS), Language, Literacy and Culture concentration, who coordinated the conference with Robert Summers, director of the Center for Language and International Communications at University at Albany, noted that this event marks the group’s quinceanera, an auspicious celebration for many in the Americas that indicates social accomplishment and membership.

In this research community, said Austin in her welcoming remarks, it signifies a coming of age of theoretical contributions inspired by Lev Vygotsky and his colleagues that have advanced understanding about language learning and development in relation to the social, cultural and historical context where learning takes place.

This forum varies from other conferences, said Austin, in that researchers present their works in progress and invite the audience to engage with the researchers’ goals by providing insights, asking questions and offering suggestions that help move the work to the next level.

Researchers presented on topics ranging from “The Social Life of Private Speech” and “The Development of L2 Inner Voice in Adult Japanese Immigrants” to “Understanding the Constructed Identities of L2 Learners/Users” and “Drugs, Guns and Gangs: Theorizing ‘Dangerous’ Funds of Knowledge in Critical Multiliteracies for Urban Aboriginal Learners.”

This year’s conference was sponsored by Dean of the School of Education Christine B. McCormick, Dr. Jerri Willett, Chair, Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies, and Dr. Julie Hayes, Chair, Languages, Literatures and Cultures, School of Humanities and Fine Arts.

School of Education Professor David Schimmel Co-authors “School Law”

Dr. David Schimmel, professor in the School of Education’s Department of Educational Policy, Research and Administration, has co-authored “School Law - What Every Educator Should Know,” with Louis Fischer and Leslie R. Stellman (2008, Pearson Education, Inc.)

The user-friendly guide demystifies educational law “one question at a time.” The book’s format translates legal jargon into everyday English, answering questions ranging from “Can Teachers Be Punished for Discussing Topics That Are Not Relevant” and “What are Penalties for Violating a Copyright?” to “Can Pay Differentials Be Based on Gender?” and “Can Schools Destroy Student Records?” The handbook is filled with legal citations and specific examples that teachers can relate to in their daily work.

“I wrote the book to meet a special need for a book that is priced and written for pre- and in-service teachers,” said Schimmel, (J.D., Yale University.) “Most school law books are written for administrators and students in education administration programs, and they sell for around $80 -$120. This book is priced at $21 so that it can be used as a supplementary text in teacher prep and professional development programs.”

“Teachers should read the book because more that 85% of teachers enter the classroom with no preparation in school law; because the vast majority are uninformed or misinformed about their rights and responsibilities and the rights of their
students; and because their primary source of information about school law is other similarly uniformed teachers,” Schimmel added. “As a result of this lack of knowledge, many teachers unknowingly violate student rights and also fail to discipline
students when they should because of unfounded fears of being sued.”

As a Visiting Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Schimmel has taught its course in “Schools and the Law” for 7 years. Schimmel’s primary focus of research and writing at UMass Amherst is on investigating “what teachers know, don't know, and want to know about school law, where they get their legal information and what difference it makes.”

Botelho Presents at German Universities

Maria Jose Botelho, Assistant Professor, Reading and Writing, Pre-K-6, Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies has been invited to present her research on critical multicultural analysis of U.S. and Canadian children's literature in November at three German Universities: Center for North American Studies of the University of Kiel, Center for Canadian Studies of the University of Marburg, and the Center for Inter- and Trans-Cultural Research of the University of Cologne. Botelhelo’s presentation is titled: "Reading Culture: Critical Multicultural Analysis of Children's Literature." The trip to Germany is funded through a grant from the American Embassy in Berlin, a funding source that supports research that fosters American studies in Germany.

Dr. Galman Awarded Fellowship

Sally Galman, Assistant Professor in the School of Education’s Department of Teacher Education & Curriculum Studies, has won a 2008-2009 ISHA Fellowship through the UMass Amherst-based "Interdisciplinary Seminar in the Humanities and Fine Arts" (ISHA). Her project, “Public Intellectuals in the Landscape of ‘Care’: Pre K-12 Teachers, Identity, and Work,” looks at popular and personal interpretations of the work of the teacher.

Through participation in ISHA, Galman will explore new ways to apply her work in the graphic novel genre and in collaborative arts-based inquiry with pre-service and practicing teachers to explore and transform those interpretations.

“Within that arena, I am particularly interested in how this interpretation occurs at multiple levels of ‘learning to work’— at the ‘hidden’ pre-service preparatory and in-service development levels, as well as the public processes of anticipatory socialization implicit in popular cultural depiction of teachers as (gendered) ‘carers’ as distinct from transformative public intellectuals,” Galman said.

“I want to explore these as processes of socialization that often pass for ‘discernment, ‘induction’ or professional development but which are all ultimately negotiations of power and constructions of self,” she said.

Galman described her ISHA Fellowship project as “working with my data sets of pre-service and new teacher information to create a collaborative graphic novel about teaching as intellectual work. “I try to bring my art work into my research,” she said. “I think images are powerful.”

Galman earned her B.A. from Grinnell College. A cartoonist for Grinnell College’s newspaper, she won the Charles Schultz Award in 1994. She received an M.A., and Ph.D. from University of Colorado. After having worked as an elementary school teacher, she came to the School of Education in 2005. Galman is the author of “Shane, the Lone Ethnographer: A Beginner’s Guide to Ethnography” (2007), a book she calls “ a comic book guide to understanding ethnographic research in the social sciences.”

Dr. Gajda’s Article Published in Action in Teacher Education

Rebecca Gajda, Assistant Professor and Coordinator, Education Administration Program in the School of Education’s Department of Educational Policy, Research and Administration, had an article published in the Summer 2008 issue of Action in Teacher Education, The Journal of the Association of Teacher Educators.

Titled “States’ Expectations for Teachers’ Knowledge About School Law,” the article represents the results of a study that examined what states expect individuals to know about school law to become licensed to teach. Results of a web-based survey indicate, among other findings, that only one state requires a course in school law or legal issues and that knowledge of legal issues does not appear to be addressed by state-mandated licensure exams. It concludes that those invested in legal literacy should work collaboratively with state certification bureaus and professional organizations to strengthen state standards and assessments.

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Young's Paper Wins

Dr. Sara Young's paper entitled "Becoming Allies: Privilege, Discourse and Social Change" won the 2009 Rubovits Award, recognizing it as the best paper from last year's New England Educational Research Organization (NEERO) conference. Dr. Young will present her paper again as an invited session at AERA this Spring.

Boscardin and Andrianopoulos Awarded $799,602 to Prepare Speech Pathologists

Addressing a situation that the American Speech Language Hearing Association has called a crisis-level shortage of speech language pathologists for special needs students in the public schools, the U.S. Department of Education has awarded two UMass Amherst professors nearly $800,000 to train the next generation of doctoral leaders in this area.

“There is a massive shortage in speech and language pathologists to go around,” said Professor Mary Lynn Boscardin of the UMass Amherst School of Education’s Department of Student Development & Pupil Personnel Services, who with Associate Professor Mary Andrianopoulos of the UMass Amherst Department of Communication Disorders were recently awarded a four-year, $799,602 Preparation of Leadership Personnel Grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

According to the U.S. Department of Education (2004), approximately 65.4% of public school students between the ages of 3-21 receive special education services for communicative disabilities. Because of population growth and other factors, however, experts are projecting a shortage of qualified speech language pathology faculty in the next five years. The U.S. Department of Labor (2004) projected a total of 49,000 job openings for speech language pathologists between the 2002 and 2012. In a study the same year, the American Speech Language Hearing Association termed this “a national crisis.” Boscardin said that the grant will help to fill this void.

“Speech and language pathologists can be pulled off in several directions. It's not like training teachers: there are hospitals, clinics, and rehab institutes competing for them,” Boscardin said. “So sometimes the public schools are an afterthought. What we wanted to do was really develop speech and language pathologists who had that public school focus as their primary focus, and see it as being equally important with all of their other options.”

The grant will support five doctoral students in speech language pathology with a minor in special education. These students then would go on to prepare the next generation of students pursuing careers in speech language pathology, with a special focus on students with speech and language disabilities in the public schools. Drs. Shelley Velleman and Elena Zaretsky in the Department of Communication Disorders will also be participating in the grant-funded activities.

Speech language pathologists play a critical role in the assessment, intervention, and management of students with communicative disabilities in the public schools, Boscardin said.

“Historically, children are identified as having speech and language disabilities first, well before they are identified as having a learning disability, because speech and language disability are evident early,” she said.

In addition to knowledge of the disabilities themselves, speech language pathology faculty must also be knowledgeable of special education practices, policies, and laws, as well as federal guidelines such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 and the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

“IDEA and NCLB require that speech language pathologists improve student achievement outcomes relevant to state standards,” Boscardin said. “School-based speech language pathologists need to acquire a knowledge-base and expertise in the use of valid and effective interventions to improve educational outcomes for students with disabilities.”

“The beauty of this grant is the fact that these doctoral students will also be taking courses in special education,” she added. “It will really make them a lot more sensitive to the issue of learning disabilities. They'll be more sensitized to the issue of working with a special educator, and putting this into the context of what it is to work in schools, and how to be effective in that type of system.”

In netting the competitive grant, they credited UMass-Amherst Provost and Vice Chancellor, Charlena Seymour, Senators Stan Rosenberg, John Kerry, and Ted Kennedy, and several colleagues in the school systems of Agawam, Amherst, Chicopee, Holyoke, and Springfield, as well the University of Massachusetts Medical School/Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center.

School of Education Professor Allan P. Feldman and Doctoral Student Shannon Bryant Receive Grant

Dr. Allan P. Feldman, professor in the School of Education’s Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies (TECS), and Shannon Bryant, a doctoral student in the Teacher Education and School Improvement (TESI) doctoral concentration in TECS, have received a Public Service Endowment grant from the University of Massachusetts Amherst to improve retention of new mathematics teachers in high needs areas by providing content-specific instructional support, psychological support and by creating a supportive social network.

The grant addresses novice teacher retention as one of the underlying reasons for the current shortage of qualified mathematics teachers in the United States.

By providing instructional and emotional support and creating a supportive social network for new teachers, the grant proposes not only improve the retention of qualified math teachers but also to improve their teaching practice, and ultimately, student learning.

Middle and high school mathematics teachers in their first or second year of teaching will be targeted. Particular attention will be paid to recruiting teachers from high needs school districts such as Holyoke and Springfield, Mass.

Professor Allan P. Feldman Co-Authors “Teachers Investigate Their Work”

School of Education professor Allan P. Feldman has co-authored “Teachers Investigate Their Work - An Introduction to Action Research across the Professions” with Herbert Altricher, Peter Posch and Bridget Somekh.

The book introduces the methods and concepts of action research through examples drawn from studies carried out by teachers. It is arranged as a handbook with numerous sub-headings for easy reference and forty-one practical methods and strategies to put into action. Throughout the book, the authors draw on their international practical experience of action research, working in close collaboration with teachers.

It is an essential guide for teachers, senior staff and coordinators of teacher professional development who are interested in investigating their own practice in order to improve it.

“Teachers Investigate Their Work” is published by Routledge.

Austin reviews book in Modern Language Journal

Theresa Austin, associate professor in the Language, Literacy and Culture concentration in the School of Education, reviewed “State Assessment Policy and Practice for English Language Learners. A National Perspective,” in the fall issue of The Modern Language Journal. The book is edited by Charlene Rivera and Eric Collum.

Austin also presented a paper June 19 at the 2nd International Seminar of Educational Research held at Rikkyo University in Tokyo. The paper was titled “Negotiating Social Interactions: What Does ‘Positioning” Reveal to Us?”

Her article, “Linguicism and Race in the United States: Impact on Teacher Education From Past to Present,” will be published next year by Routledge in “Race, Culture, and Identities in Second Language Education: Exploring Critically Engaged Practice.”

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