Archived News and Notes

April 2009

• We are pleased to announce that Sheila A. Brown has joined the SERP Team as the Director of the Boston Field Site. Sheila brings extensive knowledge and experience with her, particularly in the areas of literacy, systemic reform, and educational leadership. Please read more about Sheila and all of the people at SERP.
• Word Generation: Using Online Tools To Support Effective Implementation of an Academic Language Program
  Upcoming webinar!
  Co-sponsored by SERP and SchoolsMovingUp
  April 28 10:30am–12:00pm (PT)
  In this webinar, SERP-Boston Research Director Catherine Snow, Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, will provide an overview of Word Generation, a program for students in the middle grades that uses research-based principles for teaching vocabulary and designing instructional units focusing on all-purpose academic words. The webinar will also provide an introduction to the free Word Generation website, and describe its use as a support for teacher engagement and professional development in the major pedagogical strategies supported by Word Generation. More information and registration.
• Building 'Institutional Infrastructure' and Bringing Research Into the Classroom
  By Suzanne Donovan
  President Barack Obama is striking two chords that, if played together in his education strategy, would produce a tune different not only from his predecessor’s, but also from that of many in his own party. The first chord, influenced by Mr. Obama’s past as a community organizer, is one that resonated throughout his campaign: Real change must be built from the bottom up, or, as he put it, “block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.” The second, heard in his plans for billions of dollars in economic stimulus, is that we must build the nation’s infrastructure so that dollars spent today will represent an investment in the future.
  Read the entire commentary
  Published in Education Week: February 11, 2009
• Recommended Reading:
  Constructive Controversy: The Educative Power of Intellectual Conflict
  By David W. Johnson, Roger T. Johnson, & Karl A. Smith
  "By passing up conflict, instructors miss out on valuable opportunities to involve students and enhance their learning."
  Download entire article
  Reprinted with permission from the authors and Change Magazine
  Originally published: January, 2000