
Lifelong Learners Earn Doctorates
Eight Northwestern University graduate students recently reached the pinnacle of education, earning doctoral degrees in three of the School of Education and Social Policy's pioneering programs: Learning Sciences, Human Development and Social Policy, and Computer Science and Learning Sciences (CS + LS), a joint degree with the McCormick School of Engineering.

Meet SESP’s 2022 Senior Honors Students
Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy honors students were recognized for rigorous and relevant scholarship by interim Dean Dan P. McAdams, Professor David Rapp, Assistant Dean Susan Olson and faculty members during a ceremony and poster presentation session.

Uttal Wins Research Translation Award
David Uttal received the 2022 International Mind, Brain and Education Society’s translation award for his work strengthening the links between research and practice in both schools and informal contexts such as museums and community centers.

SESP Welcomes First Early Career Visiting Scholars
Scholars Sofia Bahena and Camila Morales have been named the inaugural early career visiting fellows at Northwestern University's Center for Education Efficacy, Excellence, and Equity (E4) during the 2022-23 academic year.

The Future of Music: Making Beats With Code
A new book by Northwestern University professor Mike Horn offers a powerful new way to create music that can be linked with digital production tools of the future.

SESP in the Media: May 2022
An ongoing, monthly roundup of appearances in the media by School of Education and Social Policy faculty, researchers, and our community.

SESP in the Media: April 2022
An ongoing, monthly roundup of appearances in the media by School of Education and Social Policy faculty, researchers, and our community.

Halverson: Using the Arts to Fix a Broken System
Alumna Erica Halverson’s new book “How the Arts Can Save Education” is, strangely enough, not about arts education. Instead, Halverson uses arts practices to fundamentally rethink how “learning” should be measured and to design learning environments and experiences that can serve all kids.

Faculty Contribute to New IES Report on Future of Ed Research
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) should change its structures and policies to better meet changing priorities in education – including improving equity and the usefulness of research, according to a new report whose authors include several Northwestern University faculty members.

Scholars at AERA Explore Equitable Education
Northwestern University’s Carol Lee will address one of the most hotly debated and contentious issues in education–how schools should teach–during the American Educational Research Association’s 2022 annual meeting from April 21 to 26 in San Diego.

How to Give Kids 'Math Worth Doing'
When Jen Munson and her team launched an ambitious new website to support elementary school math teachers during the pandemic, they never dreamed they’d be reaching people from 65 countries on six continents.

SESP in the Media: March 2022
An ongoing, monthly roundup of appearances in the media by School of Education and Social Policy faculty, researchers, and our community.

Nuamah’s Paper Wins Second Award
Sally Nuamah received the Rodney Higgins Best Faculty Paper Award from the National Conference of Black Political Scientists for her work highlighting the link between the ‘adultification’ of Black girls and public support for their punishment.

Why You Should Savor Fleeting Moments of Joy
Hold back on the bickering. New research co-authored by Northwestern University's Claudia Haase, suggests that couples who share sweet moments filled with humor and affection, and sync up biologically — two hearts beating as one — enjoy better health prospects and live longer than their more quarrelsome counterparts.

Are New Teachers Ready to Teach?
Kavita Kapadia Matsko’s research looking at three different ways to consider new teacher readiness for the classroom received the Journal of Teacher Education’s 2022 Article of the Year.

SESP in the Media: February 2022
An ongoing, monthly roundup of appearances in the news media by School of Education and Social Policy faculty, researchers, and our community.

Meet SESP's Newest PhD's
Sixteen Northwestern University graduate students earned doctoral degrees in three of the School of Education and Social Policy's pioneering programs: Learning Sciences, Human Development and Social Policy, and Computer Science and Learning Sciences (CS + LS), a joint degree with the McCormick School of Engineering.

Training Future K-5 Teachers in STEM
Professor Megan Bang and alumna Carrie Tzou (PhD08) received a $1.8 million National Science Foundation grant to better prepare aspiring elementary school teachers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Six Scholars Named as Nation’s Most Influential
For the third straight year, six Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy faculty members were named to Education Week’s annual list of 200 influential academics in education policy. The scholars are among the top in their fields and were selected for moving academic research findings into the national conversation.

SESP in the Media: January 2022
An ongoing, monthly roundup of appearances in the news media by School of Education and Social Policy faculty, researchers, and our community.

Making an Impact: Faculty Research Named Year's Best
Two papers coauthored by researchers at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy (SESP) were named to the Edutopia’s “10 Most Significant Education Studies of 2021.”

Vossoughi Promoted to Associate Professor
Northwestern University’s Shirin Vossoughi, a learning scientist best known for her work studying culture, equity, social relations, and learning in a range of educational environments, has been promoted to associate professor of learning sciences at the School of Education and Social Policy.

Lam Honored for Immigration Research
School of Education and Social Policy Professor Eva Lam and her coauthors received the Alan C. Purves Award from the National Council of Teachers of English for their research looking at what happens when young people tell their own immigration stories through documentary filmmaking.

Here’s How Black Communities Responded to School Closures
Black Chicagoans who lived near a school that was shuttered during the largest wave of public-school closures in US history became more politically active and held their local officials accountable, according to a new Northwestern University study coauthored by professor Sally Nuamah.

SESP in the Media: November 2021
An ongoing, monthly roundup of appearances in the news media by School of Education and Social Policy faculty, researchers, and our community.

Researchers Tackle Inequity in STEM Education
Four School of Education and Social Policy researchers and alums will help address systemic inequities in PreK-12 STEM education as part of an esteemed National Academies’ committee.

Shrodes Wins AAUW Dissertation Fellowship
Graduate student Addie Shrodes has received a highly competitive American Dissertation Fellowship from the American Association of University Women (AAUW) to support her work looking at how trans and queer teens learn critical digital literacies through everyday activities on social media.

Researchers Find Important Nuances in Race, Preschool Discipline
Teachers tend to complain more about Black preschool students and identify their behavior as problematic compared to white students — even though researchers found no differences when the children were observed in a laboratory setting, according to a new Northwestern University study.

Why We All Pay When Black Girls are Punished
Northwestern University’s Sally Nuamah received the 2021 American Political Science Association, Best Paper on Intersectionality Award, for her work looking at how race and gender stereotypes affect public support for punishing Black girls.

SESP in the Media: October 2021
An ongoing, monthly roundup of appearances in the news media by School of Education and Social Policy faculty, researchers, and our community.

Seeking Early Career Visiting Scholars for K-12 Education Research
The E4 Early Career Visiting Fellows Program is currently seeking four up and coming scholars to conduct K-12 education research at Northwestern University's Center for Education Efficacy, Excellence, and Equity (E4) during the 2022-23 academic year.

Emma Adam Named Associate Vice President for Research
Emma Adam, the Edwina S. Tarry Professor of Human Development and Social Policy in the School of Education and Social Policy has been named associate vice president for research at Northwestern University.

Uttal Receives $1.3 Million to Study Spatial Thinking
Psychologist David Uttal has received four grants worth $1.28 million to study new ways to enhance spatial thinking, the process of looking for patterns in the relationships between objects.

Teens’ COVID-19 Stress Levels Tied to Parents’ Education
Family education levels predicted how much stress teenagers felt during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study by researchers at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy.

CTD Researchers Win Book, Paper of the Year Awards
Researchers at Northwestern University’s Center for Talent Development have won both Book of the Year and Paper of the Year awards from the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC).

Graduate Students Win Spencer Dissertation Fellowships
Graduate students Nikki McDaid and Sebastián Kiguel have received highly competitive NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowships to support their research and career development.

Addressing America's Death Problem
Americans have shorter lives than similarly situated Europeans, even in the richest areas, according to new Northwestern University research coauthored by School of Education and Social Policy professor Hannes Schwandt. At the same time, longevity of Black Americans has been catching up, and the life expectancy gap between Black and white Americans fell by 48.9%.

Meet SESP's Newest PhD's
Sixteen Northwestern University graduate students earned doctoral degrees in three of the School of Education and Social Policy's pioneering programs: Learning Sciences, Human Development and Social Policy, and Computer Science and Learning Sciences (CS + LS), a joint degree with the McCormick School of Engineering.

New Research: Illinois Fared Well Amid COVID-19 Chaos
Illinois is a national model for how to equitably allocate resources during trying times, according to a new report by Northwestern University researchers assessing the response to COVID-19 for child care programs in Illinois.

SESP Launches New Research-Practice Partnership with $5.8-Million Grant
Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy (SESP) received a $5.8-million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support an innovative partnership that links University researchers and Curriculum Associates, a leading provider of digital assessment and instructional materials, with several school districts.

SESP in the Media: September 2021
An ongoing, monthly roundup of appearances in the news media by School of Education and Social Policy faculty, researchers, and our community.

Two Faculty Members Honored for Education Research
Professors Carol D. Lee and Megan Bang were honored by the American Educational Research Association (AERA) for their cutting-edge education research, scholarship, and service to the field.

Trautvetter to Help Probe the Universe’s Deepest Mysteries
Professor Lois Trautvetter is part of a new cross-disciplinary fellowship program that brings together astrophysicists and social scientists to tackle data from a massive sky survey, according to Northwestern News.

SESP in the Media: August 2021
An ongoing, monthly roundup of appearances in the news media by School of Education and Social Policy faculty, researchers, and our community.

Undergrad Wins Inaugural P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale Research Grant
School of Education and Social Policy undergraduate Daniela Hernandez received the inaugural P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale Undergraduate Summer Research Grant in Social Policy for Children and Families.

SESP in the Media: July 2021
An ongoing, monthly roundup of appearances in the news media by School of Education and Social Policy faculty, researchers, and our community.

SESP Faculty 2020-21 Awards Roundup
Known for innovative interdisciplinary research, teaching, and outreach, School of Education and Social Policy faculty members are routinely honored for producing pathbreaking work on many of the world’s most challenging questions.

FUSE Studios Expands to Southern California
Students in underserved elementary schools in Southern California will have access to Northwestern University’s FUSE Studios program this fall, thanks in part to a $150,000 grant from the Mazda Foundation.

These Two Rising Stars Won Early CAREER Awards
Northwestern University’s Eleanor O’Rourke and Marcelo Worsley received the prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for projects designed to strengthen and diversify the field of computer science.

Honors Students Present Senior Thesis Projects
Twelve School of Education and Social Policy honors students were recognized for rigorous and thoughtful scholarship by Dean David Figlio and faculty members during an online ceremony and poster presentation session.