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May-June 2021 Newsletter

 

SREE 2021 Conference Updates

David Francis Named 2021 Hedges Lecturer 

SREE is pleased to announce that David Francis, the Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished University Chair in Psychology at the University of Houston and Director of Texas Institute for Measurement, Evaluation and Statistics, has been named the 2021 Hedges Lecturer. Francis was selected in recognition of his contributions to the field of causal education research and his contributions to SREE, and his diverse experience and perspective. Francis is a recipient of the University of Houston Teaching Excellence Award.

The lecture bears the name of Larry Hedges to honor his work in advancing research methods in education and social science and his part in founding the Society, which supports continuous improvement in the field. It is supported by the American Institute for Research, the Spencer Foundation, and the W.T. Grant Foundation. 2021 is the fourth year the Lecture will be given. 

The Hedges lecture will take place on September 27 at the Capitol View at the Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel as part of SREE’s Annual Conference. Learn more about the SREE 2021 Conference here. Program information and registration for the conference will be available July 1. 

Important Dates

July 1, 2021: Abstract decision notifications sent.

July 1, 2021: Preliminary program information available. 

Mid-July, 2021: Registration opens. 

August 21, 2021: Early registration deadline.  


One Page Summaries from JREE Now Available

Did you know that the Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness (JREE) has now posted 29 one-page article summaries? The JREE Editorial team recognizes that practitioners, policy-makers, and “research users” would like content that is more accessible, so these summaries provide an overview of the content and include a link to the full article on the JREE site for individuals who want to dive deeper into the research methods and study design. 

They are quite popular – the median number of views for these easy to read docs is over 500. Recent additions include:

Check them out!


SREE Announces 2021 Summer Fellows

SREE, in collaboration with Grantmakers for Education’s Data Impact Group, is pleased to announce the 2021 Summer Fellows. The fellows will be working on their research projects this summer and the findings will be shared with the SREE community at the Fall 2021 conference and on the website.


SREE's First Researchers of Color Brown Bag on QuantCrit Widely Attended

On June 15th,  the Researchers of Color affinity group conducted their first-in a-series of brown bag virtual meetings that will be held quarterly. Wendy Castillo, a Princeton lecturer and SREE member, shared her work on 'QuantCrit' (Quantitative Critical Race Theory). More than 370 individuals registered for the session and over 180 tuned in to learn about and discuss ways to improve the use of statistical data in social research by applying the insights of Critical Race Theory (CRT). Topics covered included positionality statements, how researchers define racial groups in their work, and working with the studied groups.   

A recording of the brown bag session can be found here and on our website.  

The Researchers of Color affinity group was created by a grassroots group of members who seek to promote a culturally sensitive and inclusive environment within the Society of Research on Educational Effectiveness. The intention of the series is to give researchers of color and allies a forum in which to gather, explore relevant issues, build community, and network.

Future Researchers of Color events coming soon!


Institutional Member Corner: RAND American Educator Panels

Are you interested in gathering nationally representative survey responses from K-12 public school principals, teachers, or districts? Consider using the RAND American Educator Panels (AEP).

The AEP consist of three nationally representative samples of educators who provide their feedback on important issues of educational policy and practice. They are the American Teacher Panel, the American School Leader Panel, and the newly formed American School District Panel.

The Panels use high-quality probability-based methods that allow you to generalize results to the national population of educators. The American Teacher Panel also affords the opportunity to gather state-representative survey data from teachers in 28 states.

Survey costs depend on survey length and desired sample size. Recent findings from the AEP are listed below. For more information, please take a look at our website www.rand.org/aep and informational brochures, or contact us at: [email protected]

Recent Findings from the AEP:

-          Urban and Rural Districts Showed a Strong Divide During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Only 17 percent of urban districts, compared with 42 percent of rural districts, were offering fully in-person instruction to students as of February 2021. Suburban districts fell in between at 27 percent.

-          Divergent and Inequitable Teaching and Learning Pathways During (and Perhaps Beyond) the Pandemic: Schools that were fully remote for most of the year tended to serve higher percentages of students of color and low-income students, as well as more students who were below grade level at the start of the year. Teachers in fully remote schools reported less instructional time and less curriculum coverage—on average—than their in-person peers. At the same time, principals and teachers in schools that have been mostly remote tended to be more open about the possibility of remote instruction in future years.

-          Job-Related Stress Threatens the Teacher Supply: Teachers have experienced many job-related stressors during the 2020–2021 academic year and one in four teachers were considering leaving their job by the end of the school year—more than in a typical prepandemic year and a higher rate than employed adults nationally. Black or African American teachers were particularly likely to plan to leave. Also, teachers were more likely to report experiencing frequent job-related stress and symptoms of depression than the general population.


Institutional Member Corner: University of Maryland College of Education

University of Maryland Names Jennifer King Rice Senior Vice President and Provost

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland has named Jennifer King Rice Ph.D., as Senior Vice President and Provost, effective August 11, 2021. The Senior Vice President and Provost is the second-ranking officer of the university, reporting directly to the President. 

As Senior Vice President, Rice will lead the university in its mission to advance academic excellence while promoting social justice, cultural diversity, resource conservation, and economic opportunity. As chief academic officer, Rice will provide leadership and oversight for the development and implementation of all academic planning, policies, and budgeting; review all academic appointments and make recommendations to the President on all promotion and tenure decisions; and ensure the excellence and diversity of programs, faculty, and students across the entire university.

“It is an honor to be selected as Provost at the University of Maryland, a place and community that I love and am proud to serve,” said Rice. “With our president’s overarching commitment to excellence in all that we do, we are seizing a moment of great potential to contribute to our state and broader society in new and innovative ways. I look forward to partnering with stellar academic colleagues and administrators to cultivate a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone has the opportunity to fully participate and succeed.

Rice currently serves as the dean of UMD’s College of Education and professor of education policy. In this role, Rice has focused her efforts to align educational resources with key initiatives to advance excellence, equity and social justice in preschool through graduate school. Upon becoming dean, she led the College of Education community through an inclusive strategic planning process, which has resulted in new and innovative initiatives to promote the College’s shared values, vision and goals. Her emphasis on college-level research infrastructure, enhancements in instructional programming and diversity, equity and inclusion have propelled the college forward in reputation and rankings during her tenure.

“In naming our next Provost, I am thrilled to congratulate an esteemed researcher, a strategist, an advocate, a highly respected colleague, and a fellow Terp. I am continually impressed and inspired by Dr. Rice’s extraordinary commitment to measurable impact policies and practices, diversity, equity and inclusion, and her many accomplishments as Dean,” said Darryll Pines, University President. “I am looking forward to the academic future of this university with Dr. Rice as Senior Vice President and Provost.” 

As a national expert in education finance and policy, Rice regularly consults with policy organizations and agencies at the state and federal levels. She has been a National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow and a visiting fellow at the Urban Institute. She is currently a fellow of the National Education Policy Center, and served as president of the Association of Education Finance and Policy. She sits on two charter school boards, is a University System of Maryland representative on the Maryland State Teacher Certification Advisory Council, and recently co-chaired the Association of American Universities Annual Deans meeting. Dr. Rice also served as co-chair of the Maryland Education Deans and Directors Council.

As a UMD Distinguished Scholar-Teacher awardee, Dr. Rice has published numerous articles and book chapters. Her authored and edited books include Performance-Based Pay for Educators: Assessing the Evidence, Fiscal Policy in Urban Education, and Teacher Quality: Understanding the Effectiveness of Teacher Attributes, winner of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education book award. She also served on the editorial boards of American Educational Research Journal and Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, and recently completed a term on the editorial board for Education Finance and Policy. 

For over 25 years, Rice has served on the faculty and in college leadership roles at UMD. Prior to joining the faculty at Maryland, she was a researcher at Mathematica Policy Research. Dr. Rice earned her Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Education Administration and Social Foundations from Cornell University. She also earned a B.S. in Mathematics and English from Marquette University, where she was recently honored with the Professional Achievement Award from the Marquette University Klingler College of Arts and Sciences.

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About the University of Maryland

The University of Maryland, College Park is the state's flagship university and one of the nation's preeminent public research universities. A global leader in research, entrepreneurship and innovation, the university is home to more than 40,000 students,10,000 faculty and staff, and 280 academic programs. As one of the nation’s top producers of Fulbright scholars, its faculty includes two Nobel laureates, three Pulitzer Prize winners and 58 members of the national academies. The institution has a $1.9 billion operating budget and secures $514 million annually in external research funding. For more information about the University of Maryland, College Park, visit www.umd.edu.


 On the Job Market? Check the SREE Job Board!

 New jobs have been posted. Check them out at Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness Careers (mcjobboard.net).