Faculty and staff from across UW–Madison’s School of Education are routinely quoted or make their voices heard in newspapers, magazines, and online news media outlets. Similarly, these experts are often interviewed and showcased on a range of local, national, and international radio and television news reports. Over the past year, there have been more than 100 School of Education-related media mentions. For the latest examples, visit the School’s news and events web page: https://education.wisc.edu/news-events/
• • •
Stern explains need for critical analysis of history
An op-ed from Walter Stern that explains the urgent “need to cultivate teachers and students who are brave — and patriotic — enough to think critically about the nation’s past,” was published by The Hill on Dec. 30, 2021.
Stern is an assistant professor and historian with the Department of Educational Policy Studies.
Stern’s commentary is in response to politicians who are drafting legislation to oppose the teaching of “divisive concepts” by forcing schools to pro- vide uncritical examinations of the nation’s past.
Writes Stern: “Without independent thinkers who care enough about the nation’s well-being to wrestle with, rather than retreat from, its complex history, the country is ill-prepared to tackle current and future challenges. A society, after all, can’t solve problems whose existence it refuses to acknowledge.”
Wall Street Journal interviews Jackson about the widening college gap for men
The Wall Street Journal utilized the expertise of UW–Madison’s Jerlando Jackson for an article published in September 2021 and headlined, “A Generation of American Men Give Up on College: ‘I Just Feel Lost.’ ”
Jackson is the director and chief research scientist of Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB), and chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis.
The newspaper report explains how men made up just 40.5 percent of college students at the end of the 2020-21 academic year — while women were at an all-time high of 59.5 percent. And according to this enrollment data compiled by the National Student Clearinghouse, U.S. colleges and universities had 1.5 million fewer students compared to five years ago — and men accounted for a whopping 71 percent of that decline.
Jackson, who concurrently holds the Rupple-Bascom Professorship of Education and the Vilas Distinguished Professorship of Higher Education, told the Wall Street Journal that campuses traditionally haven’t spent funds on male underachievement that would benefit white men, because institutions would risk criticism for assisting those who have historically held the biggest educational advantages.
“As a country, we don’t have the tools yet to help white men who find themselves needing help,” Jackson told the newspaper.
In other reports
- The Daily Mail out of London put the spotlight on a groundbreaking stroke study from a team of researchers that included UW–Madison’s Dorothy Farrar Edwards, the School of Education’s associate dean for research and a professor of occupational therapy with the Department of Kinesiology. The September 2021 report was headlined, “Stroke victims recover best if rehab starts 2-3 MONTHS after the event.” The article examines a study that Farrar Edwards is a co-author on that was released in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
- Chris Walker joined host Ali Muldrow on WORT-FM’s “A Public Affair” program in September 2021 for a conversation about his vision for the arts on campus and in the community — “arts for everyone, everywhere.” Walker is the director of UW–Madison’s Division of the Arts, and is also a professor in the School of Education’s Dance Department. In the segment, titled “Arts Are Necessary,” Walker explained why he feels access to creative play is critical for students.
- Nick Hillman is a co-author of an op-ed published Aug. 30 in Inside Higher Ed that is headlined, “A College Completion Program for Both Sides of the Aisle.” Hillman is an associate professor with the School of Education’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, and the director of the Student Success through Applied Research (SSTAR) lab. He crafted the proposal outlined in the op-ed with Jerome Lucido (University of Southern California) and Donald Hossler (Indiana University Bloomington).
- Erica Halverson’s new book, “How the Arts Can Save Education: Transforming Teaching, Learning, and Instruction,” was released Oct. 22, 2021 and received significant media coverage — including an interview with the Wisconsin State Journal and KQED, Northern California’s National Public Radio and PBS member station. Halverson is a professor and chair in the School of Education’s highly regarded Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Her book provides a blueprint for utilizing the arts — performing, visual, and multimedia — to rethink what good learning, teaching, and curriculum can be.
- The New York Times published a guest essay by Eleni Schirmer in August that was headlined, “We’re Burying Our Kids in Debt (Just Not the Way You Think).” Schirmer earned her PhD in 2021 from the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Department of Curriculum and Instruction. She currently works as a research associate with the Future of Finance Initiative at UCLA’s Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy. In the essay, Schirmer reports that thousands of school districts across the country have turned to debt financing in order to cover budget shortfalls. She argues that not only has this failed to provide schools with sufficient funds, but it has long-term costs and traps schools in “cycles of austerity.”