Category: Education Research

Dr. Corey Brady to Speak at International Conference

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Dr. Corey Brady, Simmons Assistant Professor and one of the newest members of SMU’s Technology Enhanced Immersive Learning (TEIL) research cluster, will speak at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)’s Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology, in their speaker series, Experiences from the Classroom of the Future.

Dr. Brady, who is fluent in Spanish, will deliver his talk, A vision of STEAM: Constructing powerful ideas through participatory activities, in Spanish.

The UNAM is the largest public university in Latin America, and a center for STEM and STEM Education research.  The prestigious invitation to speak at the Experiences in the Classroom of the Future 2023 seminar came from the Continuing Education Network of the UNAM and the Network of Classrooms of the Future.

Brady will present in a live webinar on August 25 at 11 a.m. CST which will be transmitted on the Aula del Futura channel on YouTube.

SMU Center on Research and Evaluation (CORE) at the Simmons School of Education & Human Development chosen to take part in study funded by the LEGO Foundation

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DALLAS (SMU) – SMU Simmons’ Center on Research and Evaluation (CORE) will join Temple University in conducting a “Learning through Play” national study. The LEGO Foundation has awarded a $19.98 million grant to fund the longitudinal study. SMU’s Center on Research and Evaluation (CORE) at Simmons will be the Dallas site lead for the national study and will receive $2.8 million over 5 years to conduct the work locally.

CORE Executive Director, Dr. Annie Wright will serve as the Principal Investigator, with CORE Assistant Director Dylan Farmer and Dr. Toni Harrison-Kelly, Executive Director at the SMU Budd Center, serving as Co-PIs. The study will follow students from Pre-K through 4th grade. The researchers will study how creating active, engaged, socially interactive classrooms can bring about deeper learning and joyful teaching.

A pilot study will take place in the 2023-2024 academic year with the full study beginning in the 2024-2025 school year. According to Wright, SMU CORE will coordinate all research activities for the project and will consult the national team on school partnerships, parent engagement and community engagement. “We are honored to be selected to be part of this important work; we believe it will strengthen our research-practice partnerships with local school districts.” The study will hire a local research coordinator as well as coaches to work with the national Active Playful Learning team.

Leon Simmons Endowed Dean Stephanie Knight says, “SMU CORE’s involvement in this study speaks to the caliber of work being done by Annie Wright and her staff. Their reputation in education research and evaluation is well-earned. I know they will add valuable data to this equation that could ultimately lead to a way to re-imagine education in and out of the classroom.”

The study, which will prioritize under-resourced schools around the country, convened top scientists in the United States to develop an infrastructure that will support long-term sustainability in the participating school districts. The project will be led by Temple University Professor Kathy Hirsh-Pasek who is a New York Times Bestselling author on Early Childhood Education. Six other universities from around the country including University of California Irvine and University of Virginia, will join SMU Simmons in conducting the study. SMU Simmons is the #1 ranked private graduate school of education in the southwest and in the top 50 among public and private graduate schools of education in the 2023-2024 U.S. News & World Report rankings.

Dominique Baker is Honored with a National Award for Excellence in Education Research for Work that Pays it Forward

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Dominique Baker, Associate Professor of Education Policy in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development, has received the American Educational Research Association’s (AERA) Early Career Award for 2023. The honor was presented at an awards ceremony at the AERA National conference in Chicago on April 15, 2023.

The award honors an individual in the early stages of their career no later than 10 years after receipt of the doctoral degree, for outstanding study in the field of educational inquiry.

Baker’s research focuses on the way that education policy affects and shapes the access and success of underrepresented minoritized students in higher education. She primarily investigates student financial aid, affirmative action, and policies that influence the ability to create an inclusive and equitable campus climate. She believes education policy can transform lives, but only if thoughtfully constructed based on evidence that includes the experiences of those directly impacted.

Baker says she is honored to receive the award. “Working within community to imagine a better world, and to find the evidence for the best pathways to improve our society is one of the privileges of my life.” She went on to say, “I will never have enough words to say how grateful I am so I will keep trying to show it by paying forward the support I’ve received.”

Simmons Dean, Stephanie Knight, says, “We are extremely proud of Dominique for her work that makes a meaningful difference in the lives of students and educators. This national award is very well-deserved.”

Baker joined SMU (Southern Methodist University) in 2016. Her research has been published in a variety of journals, including the American Educational Research Journal, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Journal of Higher Education, Journal of College Student Development, and Teachers College Record. Her work and expertise have also been highlighted by The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Public Radio, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Inside Higher Ed, amongst others.

Associate Prof. Walkington and Ph.D. Student Pruitt-Britton Write Ed Week Commentary Debunking Alleged Indoctrination in Math Textbooks

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Simmons Associate Professor Candace Walkington teaches a class in Harold Clark Simmons Hall on the SMU Campus.

Education Week published a commentary by Candace Walkington, Simmons associate professor of mathematics education and learning sciences, and co-author, Ph.D. student, Tiffini Pruitt-Britton, who show that math textbooks are not about indoctrination, but fall short in promoting diversity and inclusion.

Their commentary comes at a time when political accusations inflame education discussions at the local and national levels. Some politicians are declaring what books schools should carry and what subjects should not be taught, such as critical race theory.

“We found no references to race or social justice let alone critical race theory, a framework for understanding how racism has been persistently embedded in policy. But our analysis did show a lack of substantial attention to differences linked to race, culture, gender norms, and sexual orientation in math-story content, they say. Read their commentary here.

Tiffini Pruitt-Britton, Simmons Ph.D. student, and co-author of Education Week commentary.

NPR’s Planet Money Podcast Interviews Associate Prof. Dominique Baker About her Research on Black Students’ Loan Debt

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The Indicator, NPR’s Planet Money podcast, delves into the issue that Black students are more likely to default on student loans than white students. To examine this, reporters count on the expertise of SMU’s Associate Professor Dominique Baker, who teaches in the Simmons School’s Department of Education Policy and Leadership.

As they report, “We explore why Black borrowers are three times more likely to default on their student loans than white borrowers. From the intergenerational wealth gap to discrimination in the labor market to the type of majors and colleges they choose, find out how Black students are often disadvantaged even before college starts.”

Baker has been examining Black student loan debt and the for-profit schools that market heavily to people of color, who may later default because of the cost and lack of scholarships.  Baker believes the government should conduct fuller investigations of the for-profit school practices that often lead to students defaulting.

Simmons Associate Professor Dominique Baker, Department of Education Policy and Leadership

Listen to the podcast here.

 

 

 

NSF Noyce Track 4 Grant Award to Jeanna Wieselmann Makes Examination of Integrated STEM Instruction Possible

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Assistant Professor Jeanna Weiselmann, Ph.D., Department of Teaching and Learning

Assistant Professor Jeanna Wieselmann, Ph.D., heads up a collaborative research team investigating how elementary teachers integrate their instruction of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).  The project, Research on Integrated STEM Self-Efficacy (RISE), will examine the STEM integration of 700 elementary teachers who experienced ten different teacher preparation programs across the U.S.

According to Wieselmann, quality integrated STEM instruction requires teachers to attend to the unique aspects of each discipline while also bringing them together in authentic learning opportunities for students, and this can be challenging. The aim is to support the national need to develop and retain highly effective elementary school teachers.

“Elementary teachers are often expected to teach integrated STEM, but teacher preparation programs have been slow to incorporate experiences that prepare teachers for this type of instruction, instead of focusing on mathematics and science as completely separate disciplines. ” she says. “Our project will explore how we can better support early-career elementary teachers to build their confidence and effectiveness in teaching integrated STEM lessons, with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of instruction students experience.”

Wieselmann, a faculty member in Simmons’ Department of Teaching and Learning, is the principal investigator of the project’s National Science Foundation Noyce Track 4 research grant (DUE-2151045) totaling $1.3 million. Additional principal investigators include Deepika Menon, Ph.D. (University of Nebraska, Lincoln), Sarah Haines, Ph.D. (Towson University), and Sumreen Asim. Ph.D. (Indiana University Southeast).

 

 

 

NAEd/Spencer Foundation Awards Dominique Baker Postdoctoral and Dissertation Fellowship

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Dominique J. Baker, PhD, Department of Education Policy and Leadership

DALLAS (SMU) –Dominique J. Baker, a nationally recognized expert on education policy in SMU’s Simmons School of Education and Human Development, was one of the recipients of the 2022 National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowships.

 

Baker and 24 other pre-tenure scholars will receive a $70,000 award to further their research in areas addressing critical national and international issues in education. The award provides funding for fellows to focus on research and attend professional development retreats.

 

With this award, Baker will explore the links between race, racism, and how student loan policies are covered in the media. She will be analyzing more than 90,000 newspaper articles from eight outlets to determine how often, if at all, news media outlets use words or phrases that convey ideas about race and racism when writing about student loans.

 

She’ll use SMU’s high-performance computing cluster to do the research.

 

Earlier this year, the Russell Sage Foundation, in partnership with the Economic Mobility and Opportunity program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, also awarded Baker a $30,000 grant to look into the same issue.

 

Her research focuses on the way that education policy affects and shapes the access and success of minoritized students in higher education. She primarily investigates student financial aid, affirmative action and admissions policies, and policies that influence the ability to create an inclusive and equitable campus climate. Baker is the 2021 recipient of the Association for Education Finance & Policy’s Early Career Award and the Association for the Study of Higher Education’s Excellence in Public Policy Award.

 

For more on her research, see the following:

 

Aki Kamata Receives the Holdsworth Endowed Professorship in Simmons

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Dr. Akihito Kamata, Dept. of  Education Policy and Leadership

 

 

Professor Akihito Kamata, director of Simmons’ PhD program and a faculty member in Educational Policy and Leadership, was named to the Mary Elizabeth Holdsworth Endowed Professorship in Simmons. The nominating committee commended him for his responsiveness to students and his top-notch research. 

Comments submitted by faculty in support of his professorship include, “He has been compassionate and responsive to the doctoral students and has encouraged their participation.” And as for his research, the following is noted: “He has three currently funded grants from the Institute for Education Sciences- two are related to assessment of oral reading fluency and another relates to English Language learners. He is well-known as a psychometrician and statistician in Education. He has also served on many grant review panels and even has a statistical procedure named after him.”

The Simmons School congratulates Professor Kamata for this honor and his contributions to SMU.

 

 

 

Professor Ketterlin Geller Gives Address at Honors Convocation 2022

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Professor Leanne Ketterlin Geller gave the address at SMU’s 2022 Honors Convocation. She advised students to understand not only what they do, but why they do it. Also, she said it was important to find “your people” for intellectual and emotional support. Lastly, set “hairy, audacious goals,” ones that are worth fighting for, even when feeling at the lowest ebb. Her introduction by President R. Gerald Turner starts at  26:05. See the video below.

 

Dominique Baker Receives Grant to Examine If Media Coverage of Student Debt Impacts the Narrative

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DALLAS (SMU) – Dominique J. Baker, a nationally recognized expert on education policy in SMU’s Simmons School of Education and Human Development, has received an emerging scholars pipeline grant to explore the links between race, racism, and how student loan policies are covered in media.

The $30,000 grant is from the Russell Sage Foundation (RSF), in partnership with the Economic Mobility and Opportunity program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Using SMU’s high performance computing cluster, Baker will analyze more than 90,000 newspaper articles from eight outlets to determine how often, if at all, news media outlets use words or phrases that convey ideas about race and racism when writing about student loans. She will explore both what the articles communicated and how words and phrases were used within the articles.

Words matter, Baker said, because “media discourse on student loans, including the way that race, racism, and student loans intersect in the framing of the issue, plays a significant role in the public and policy actors’ understanding of student loans’ challenges and potential solutions.”

“Focusing on policy communication through the media will help to ensure that the public and policy actors do not rely on decontextualized and race-neutral understandings of student loan debt,” she said.

Americans owe a record-breaking $1.7 trillion in student loan debt. Multiple studies, including research done by Baker, have shown that black college students are especially hard hit by student debt, in part because they are more likely to take on higher amounts of debt while earning less than their peers. Reasons for that are many, including labor market discrimination and inequities in students’ and families’ ability to afford college due to centuries of deliberate policymaking decisions in the United States, Baker said.

Baker was one of 23 professors who received the RSF-Gates Pipeline Grant, which is designed to support early- and mid-career tenure-track scholars who are underrepresented in the social sciences and to promote diversity broadly, including racial, ethnic, gender, disciplinary, institutional, and geographic diversity.