October 2011 News Stories
- Eric Brown (MS99) Meets with Obama about Education Reform
Evanston Township High School teacher Eric Brown (MS99) met with President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan at the White House to discuss the need for education reform and proposed changes to the No Child Left Behind law. Brown is a member of the National Education Association board of directors.
10/4/11 - David Hoffman (BS09), Alex White (BS08) Named Top Entrepreneurs by Bloomberg Businessweek
Next Big Sound co-founders David Hoffman (BS09) and Alex White (BS08) were named top 25 entrepreneurs age 25 and under by Bloomberg Businessweek along with co-founder Samir Rayani, who graduated from McCormick School of Engineering.
10/4/11 - Design for America, Founded by Assistant Professor Elizabeth Gerber, Featured on Cover of Fast Company
Design for America, founded by assistant professor Elizabeth Gerber in 2008, is a national award-winning educational effort to create extracurricular innovation studios to prepare future innovators through local and social design work. DFA has expanded to eight schools, and the Cornell chapter is on the cover of October’s Fast Company.
10/6/11 - Baltimore Sun Cites Jelani Mandara's 'Groundbreaking' Research on Parenting
SESP associate professor Jelani Mandara's research confirms the impact of authoritative parenting style for multiple racial and ethnic groups. The Baltimore Sun reports on a high school's class for parents based on Mandara's work.
10/4/11 - Jeff Merrell to Address Knowledge Management Forum
Jeff Merrell, associate director of the master's program in Learning and Organizational Change at SESP, will share insights about graduate education in knowledge management at the October 11 meeting of KM Chicago.
10/6/11 - Jeanne Olson Speaks on Creative Process for Chicago Ideas Week
Jeanne Marie Olson (MS96), a faculty member in the Master of Science in Learning and Organizational Change program at the School of Education and Social Policy, will join with eminent professionals to discuss “Creative Process” as part of Chicago Ideas Week on October 15.
10/5/11 - WBEZ Quotes Bart Hirsch on Effect of Slashing Student Pay for After School Matters
Professor Bart Hirsch, who studied After School Matters, found that students in this apprenticeship program were less likely to be involved in problem behavior than students in other activities. Recent slashing of apprenticeship pay to one-fifth the amount paid previously may be detrimental, Hirsch says.
10/11/11 - Brisbane Times Cites David Figlio's Research on Children's Names
In "Is Career Success a Name Game?" Brisbane Times reports on professor David Figlio's research showing that girls with feminine-sounding names are less likely to study math or science after the age of 16.
10/18/11 - Meixi Ng (BS11) Blogs from Schools in Mexico
Meixi Ng, a Princeton in Latin America fellow, has a blog called "Beat of the World" that tells of her interesting experiences working with teachers and schools in rural communities of Mexico.
11/9/11 - Design for America, Founded by Assistant Professor Elizabeth Gerber, Featured in Forbes
Forbes interviews students from the Cornell branch of Design for America (DFA), an initiative started by SESP assistant professor Elizabeth Gerber at Northwestern University in 2009. The organization's mission is to be a network of student-led studios creating local and social impact through interdisciplinary design.
10/19/11 - Blog Highlights SESP Junior, "Relentless" Tyler Scott
A Northwestern blog tells the story of SESP junior Tyler Scott, a defensive end on the Wildcat football team, and his relentlessness in playing after his grandfather died.
10/20/11 - Blog Post by Meixi Ng (BS10) from Mexico Praises "Pedagogical Party"
In her latest "Beat of the World" blog post, Meixi Ng (BS10) writes about a new kind of "party time" in Mexico: a "pedagogical party" to celebrate education. Ng is exploring education reform by studying schools in marginalized communities of the world that are changing education.
10/20/11 - Obama Taps Larry Hedges for Key Education Post
President Barack Obama yesterday tapped SESP faculty member Larry Hedges as a key member of his educational advisory team. Hedges was nominated to the National Board for Education Sciences.
10/20/11 - Economist Stresses Diane Schanzenbach's Research Findings on Class Size
The Economist stresses the importance of research findings by SESP professor Diane Schanzenbach and her colleagues. "We find that assignment to a small class increases the probability of attending college by 2.7 percentage points, with effects more than twice as large among blacks. Among those with the lowest ex ante probability of attending college, the effect is 11 percentage points," they report.
10/25/11 - Jonathan Guryan Assesses Summer Reading to Close Skills Gap
In an effort to investigate how to narrow the achievement gap between students of high and low socioeconomic status, SESP associate professor Jonathan Guryan is helping to lead a new study of the effectiveness of a summer reading program.
11/1/11 - OSEP and Promote 360 Host Evanston Students on Campus
One hundred Evanston Township High School sophomores got a taste of what college is like when they spent the entire day at Northwestern University during the first Kits&Cats@NU program.
10/31/11 - Edd Taylor Finds Religion Can Be a Plus for Math Learning
Assistant professor Edd Taylor’s current research investigating tithing in relation to mathematical thinking finds that religious practices offer a way for children to learn mathematics.
10/27/11 - Positive Teens Become Healthy Adults, Study Finds
Teenagers who remain happy and positive during the tumultuous teenage years report better general health when they are adults, according to a new study by Lindsay Hoyt Till, Emma Adam, Lindsay Chase-Lansdale and Thomas McDade.
10/27/11 - David Figlio Talks with Leading Brazilian Newspaper about School Accountability
David Figlio talks about school accountability with Estadao. He recommends that schools be evaluated based on student progress and not just the levels of proficiency
10/27/11 - Education Week Features Kirabo Jackson's Research on Student Pay for AP Scores
In relation to a new U.S. Navy initiative to pay students in military communities for high test scores, Education Week discusses assistant professor Kirabo Jackson's Texas study that found higher test scores and more participation in AP testing when students received cash incentives for high scores.
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