Finalists for WCER director post visiting campus Dec. 5-16 for open forums

November 20, 2019

Four finalists to become the next director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER) are visiting campus from Dec. 5 to 16 to participate in public forums and meet with faculty, staff, and School of Education leadership. The finalists were selected by a 13-member search-and-screen committee co-chaired by WIDA Executive Director Tim Boals and Percival Matthews, an associate professor with the Department of Educational Psychology and a WCER researcher. The WCER director reports to the dean of the School of Education, Diana Hess.

Talk on assessment and equity with University of Colorado’s Shepard available online

November 14, 2019

A talk on assessment and equity held on Oct. 30 with the University of Colorado-Boulder’s Lorrie Shepard is now available to view online. Shepard, the University Distinguished Professor and Dean Emerita with UC’s School of Education, researches psychometrics and the misuse of tests in educational settings. Her technical work has contributed to validity theory, standard setting, and statistical models for detecting test bias. Her lecture was titled, "When, If Ever, Can Assessment Foster Equity?"

Middle School absences send important signal

October 14, 2019

A new report from the Madison Education Partnership finds that rather than causing students to do poorly in school, unexcused absences may be signals of significant challenges in students’ lives. To respond, the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) is working to understand and act on those signals.

UW-Madison’s Miller writes at Medium.com about experience in education system

October 10, 2019

UW-Madison’s Keith Miller Jr. recently published an article at Medium.com headlined “Confessions of an ‘At-Risk’ Black Boy Turned Educator.” Miller explains that it’s “a nine-minute read/journey to the center of my own trauma and experience as a Black body in the education system and the journey to leading the work in my community at the Deep Center, and the transformative process it sparked.”

UW-Madison experts can address back-to-school topics

August 21, 2019

As parents, students and teachers prepare for the upcoming 2019-20 school year, experts from UW–Madison’s School of Education are ready to share their thoughts with media members on a variety of topics.

Research looks at how Snapchat filters affect self-image

August 13, 2019

While observing heavy use of selfie apps such as Snapchat, UW-Madison graduate student Amy Niu found herself wondering about the effects that virtual makeovers have on college-age females. “I started to wonder how looking at a different self will change how people will view themselves,” said Niu, who is in the School of Education’s highly regarded Department of Educational Psychology.

Rau receives NSF award to examine ways to help students learn engineering concepts

August 5, 2019

UW–Madison’s Martina Rau recently received a federal grant to examine how instructors can better utilize visuals to help students learn complex engineering concepts. The award of $300,000 is from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) grant program. Rau is an associate professor with the School of Education’s highly regarded Department of Educational Psychology and the director of the Learning Representations and Technology Lab. She is partnering on this project with UW–Madison’s Barry Van Veen, the Lynn H. Matthias Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Enright receives international Expanded Reason Award for groundbreaking forgiveness work

July 25, 2019

UW–Madison’s Robert Enright is receiving a 2019 Expanded Reason Award in recognition of his pioneering work on the power of forgiveness. This international award from the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria in Madrid, Spain, and the Vatican Foundation Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, recognizes extraordinary teachers and researchers. Enright, a professor with the School of Education’s highly regarded Department of Educational Psychology, is being recognized in the Expanded Reason Award’s research category for his book, “Forgiveness Therapy: An Empirical Guide for Resolving Anger and Restoring Hope.”