National Association for Multicultural Education

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Today’s edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education features an article about Kevin Kumashiro and his work in “anti-oppressive education.” Kumashiro is the president of the National Association for Multicultural Education (NAME), as well as professor of education and Asian American studies at the University of Illinois in Chicago. He will move into the position as Dean of the University of San Francisco School of Education in July. Read the article entitled “New Education Dean Takes Social Justice into the Classroom” here.

NAME, founded in 1991, advocates for equity and social justice through multicultural education at the Pre-K-16 grade levels.  It publishes several academic publications:

Explore the NAME website for more information, including links to parent resources, teaching resources, counseling resources, etc.  NAME holds an annual conference and a summer institute.

Norman Rockwell in the Classroom

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Rockwell, N. (1943). Four freedoms. Retrieved from the American Treasures of the Library of Congress website.

The Birmingham Museum of Art is winding down its Norman Rockwell’s America exhibit, with its last day being January 6. Even if you are unable to attend the exhibit, you may be interested in some educational resources available on the museum’s website, including the “Design-a-Mag” lesson plan and the “Strategies for Using Norman Rockwell in the Classroom.”

The “Strategies” resource provides links to several relevant websites, including the Norman Rockwell Museum site.  On this website, you will find useful teachers’ resources for incorporating Rockwell’s works into lessons.

The “Strategies” document also highlights a particular teaching strategy called ”Visual Thinking Strategies” which was created by the not-for-profit organization Visual Understanding in Education.  The strategy enables students to develop aesthetic and language literacy, and critical thinking skills. Find out more about this strategy here. Access a research summary, major findings, and additional research articles about this teaching strategy here.

Want to find more images of Norman Rockwell’s work?  Here are some suggestions:

New Books – Research Methods

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During the past year, new research methods books pertaining to education and psychology have been added to the Sterne Library collection.  Here is a sampling of some of the titles:

Check the Local Catalog records for more information: table of contents, call number, and location in the library.

Standards-Based Education Research Guide

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The standards movement began with the publication of the 1983 federal report A Nation at Risk, which investigated the decline of the educational system in the United States.  In 1986, the members of the National Governors Association took the initiative to focus their annual meeting on education. They challenged educators to commit to accountability in the classroom.  From there, national organizations and then states took up the call for accountability and began to create standards for particular subject areas and grade levels.

There is a new research guide on the Sterne Library website entitled “Standards-Based Education.”  It is a bibliography of resources available at Sterne Library on standards- based education and assessment in the grades K-12 environment. Resources include reference books for background information; books which take an in-depth look at the topic by reviewing research and analyzing the movement; and practical guidebooks for teachers out in the field.

Many of the resources on this list were bought with funds from Dr. Melanie Shore’s successful Sterne Library Grant proposal.  If you are interested in applying for a Sterne Library Grant, information may be found here. The call for new applications will go out later in the Fall Semester.

The New Teacher Project

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In yesterday’s New York Times, there was an editorial entitled “Carrots and Sticks for School Systems” which criticized public schools for their lack of action in response to teacher evaluation results.  The author stated that there are no incentive programs in place to reward high-performing teachers. “The result is that poor teachers stick around while good teachers go elsewhere or leave the profession, frustrated because they are not promoted, rewarded with better pay, or even simply acknowledged” (“Carrots and Sticks”, 2012, para. 2). In the editorial, the author cites a study from The New Teacher Project. The study The Irreplaceables: Understanding the Real Retention Crisis in America’s Urban Schools looks at four urban school districts, focusing on the experiences of “the ‘Irreplaceables’: teachers so successful at advancing student learning that they are nearly impossible to replace” (TNTP, 2012, para. 2). The study identifies the current trend of large losses of “Irreplaceables”, the causes of these losses, the obstacles to retention, and the consequences on teachers and schools.

Explore the New Teacher Project website and you will find additional reports, as well as resources for teachers, school leaders, and policy makers. Here are some examples of what you’ll have access to:

  • Teacher Talent Toolbox
  • Instructional Culture Insight
  • Teacher Evaluation 2.0
  • Teaching Fellows programs

References

Carrots and sticks. (2012, August 5). New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/06/opinion/carrots-and-sticks-for-school-systems.html

TNTP. (2012). The irreplaceables: Understanding the real retention crisis in American’s urban schools: Overview. Retrieved from http://tntp.org/irreplaceables

School Psychology Resources

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The Sterne Collection has many current resources on the topic of school psychology. The reference section on first floor has several encyclopedias and handbooks, including The Oxford Handbook of School Psychology, Encyclopedia of School Psychology, and Multicultural Handbook of School Psychology. The Oxford handbook outlines the history of, contemporary issues in, and theoretical perspectives of school psychology.  This book also covers research, assessment, intervention, medical problems, and professional issues in the field.  The Encyclopedia of School Psychology is set up like a typical encyclopedia with topics listed in an A-Z format.  The multicultural handbook focuses on the special needs and issues of this particular population of students and has chapters about consultations, interventions, assessment, and perspectives on future research.  These three reference resources have call numbers starting with LB1027.55. Head up to the third floor for books that can be checked out; just browse in that same call number area: LB1027.55. You’ll find many outstanding titles including When Kids are Grieving: Addressing Grief and Loss in School; Handbook of Crisis Counseling, Intervention, and Prevention in the Schools; and Handbook of Pediatric Psychology in School Settings, just to name a few.  The last two items are also available in E-Book format; you don’t even need to come to the library to read those books. Just access them through the Sterne Library Local Catalog.

Library and Research Skills Refresher Course

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Have you returned to the academic environment after years or decades away? Are you a little intimidated by the changes and advances that have occurred in college libraries? Or are you a student simply in need of a brush-up on your library and research skills?

This course will help students review and/or catch up on the knowledge and skills needed to navigate the library, both the physical space and the library website; find and use the print, audiovisual, and electronic resources; and understand and use basic research skills. This course will also give students avenues to pursue for additional guidance and instruction.

This course is divided into two classes:

Class 1: The Research Process, Navigating Sterne Library’s Web Page, and Locating Books: In this class, students will learn how to:

  • choose and focus topics for research
  • locate general information about the Mervyn H. Sterne Library
  • locate materials in SCOTTY, Sterne Library’s online public access catalog

When: Thursday, March 8, 10:30 a.m. – noon
Where: Meet in front of the Circulation Desk on the first floor of Sterne Library. After a short tour, we will continue the instruction in Room 174.

Class 2: Finding Articles, Weaving through the Web Wisely, and Getting Additional Help: In this class, students will learn how to

  • identify magazine, journal, and newspaper articles on a chosen topic by using indexes and databases
  • find, evaluate, and use Internet resources
  • locate information for help with research, citing, and the library

When: Thursday, March 15, 10:30 a.m. – noon
Where: Room 163 in Sterne Library.  

Register: http://www.mhsl.uab.edu/refresher/

Questions? Contact Imelda Vetter <ivetter@uab.edu> Or call the Sterne Library Reference Department at 934-6364

New Books at Sterne Library

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Here are some new titles that have been added to the Sterne Library collection:

You can search the Local Catalog for new items that have been added to the library collection. Just click on the “New Books” tab, choose the time period (1-4 weeks) and conduct a search. 

Additionally, there is now a New Books Display in Sterne Library.  Find it near the entrance to the central stairwell.

American Enterprise Institute

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The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) is a community of scholars who engage in  ”independent thinking, open debate, reasoned argument, facts and the highest standards of research and exposition” to conduct research and provide education on issues in seven areas: education, economics, foreign & defense policy, politics & public opinion, health, energy & the environment, and society & culture. The Education page features articles, research papers, podcasts, press releases, and more on a range of topics in K-12, higher education, and private enterprise education.

For example, a recent research paper (January 2012) is entitled “Critical Issues in Assessing Teacher Compensation.”

Abstract: “A November 2011 Heritage Foundation report—“Assessing the Compensation of Public-School Teachers”—presented data on teacher salaries and benefits in order to inform debates about teacher compensation reform. The report concluded that public-school teacher compensation is far ahead of what comparable private-sector workers enjoy, and that recruiting more effective teachers will be more difficult than simply raising salaries. The debate over the report’s findings has generated substantive inquiries as well as some misconceptions. Here, the report’s authors respond to questions and concerns, in the process showing that certain critical accusations—such as undercounting teachers’ work hours or overestimating retirement benefits—are simply false. The broader implication of the authors’ research is that the current teacher compensation system is not working. The United States needs a more rational system that pays teachers according to their performance.”

Read full article here.

Education Full Text – Platform Change

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Many of you are familiar with using the ERIC and Education Full Text databases when searching for the literature on education topics.  Recently, Wilson (the previous vendor for Education Full Text) has merged with EBSCO; thus, the platform for Education Full Text has changed – same content, different look.  You will notice an added benefit to this.  Now you can search both ERIC and Education Full Text on the EBSCO platform at the same time.  To do this, go to the Education Full Text database, and click on the ”Choose Databases” link, which is located directly above the search box.  Check the boxes next to the databases you would like to search simultaneously and click on the OK button. That’s all there is to it!

Note: ERIC uses the ERIC descriptors, and Education Full Text uses its own subject terms. So in conducting a search among a group of databases, you may want to stay with a keyword search, instead of a subject search.