Hello Division H'ers. The conference is around the corner (April 3-7, Philadelphia) and committees are putting the pieces in place for a successful Annual Meeting. Especially attend to the graduate student and breakfast donation calls (#2 and #3 below) and the request for information to help us plan our Centennial Program (#6 below).
1. Action Item--Section Description Revisions. Division H has four sections to which authors submit proposals for the Annual Meeting. In response to ongoing submission confusions, the Program Committee has developed a draft revision of section descriptions. These descriptions are designed to parallel submission categories for Publication Awards (which were also revised this year), and went through a lengthy process of review and revision by the Program Committee and Division H Leadership.
The draft revised descriptions can be found here. We intend to vote on these at the Movers and Shakers Meeting (Thursday, April 3, 8-10 pm, VP suite) at the Annual Meeting. I am sending them now so that everyone has time to review them and let us know about any concerns before the vote.
Please send comments to our Program Chair, Rosanne Brown, [email protected]. Thanks to the Program Committee for their work on this.
2. Graduate Students Head's Up. There are several mentoring, research presentation, and networking opportunities for graduate students at the Annual Meeting. Please contact our graduate student representatives for more information--Ruhan Circi and Matt Lavery at [email protected].
2a. Research Roundtables. We provide graduate students the opportunity to present their in-progress research for discussion during our Graduate Student Orientation/Mentoring Session (Thursday, April 3, 10-12, location TBA). A call for submissions will be sent in a separate blast soon.
2b. Coffee Mentoring. We pair up graduate student and early career members of Division H with experienced members who pursue similar interests. Mentor and mentee applications will be available on-line soon. Links will be provided in a separate blast.
2c. Monetary Support for Graduate Students. Division H offers $50 support for any graduate student member of Division H who presents a paper in any unit during the Annual Meeting. This includes the Division H GS Poster Session and the Research Roundtables during the Orientation Session. We will bring claim forms to these session. A reimbursement form can also be found here.
3. Breakfast Call for Donations. The Division H Breakfast/Business Meeting will be Sunday, April 6, 8-10 am (location TBA) at the Annual Meeting. Our Meeting Chair, Jenny Quynn ([email protected]) is asking for donations for our annual door prizes. Anything from professional items to umbrellas and candy is welcome.
Jenny has provided an on-line spread sheet (Donations_Div_H_Breakfast.xlsx) for donations so that we can efficiently acknowledge our donors. Please send items to Jenny or bring them with you to the breakfast.
4. Program. Division H will have 20 Symposia, 5 Paper Sessions, 10 Roundtables, and 6 Poster Sessions at the Annual Meeting. This year we accepted 129 of 281 paper submissions (49%) and 21 of 35 session submissions (60%). See this document for additional detail. Thanks to the Program Committee for it's hard work on the program. (Rosanne Brown, Nyambura Susan Maina, Toni Stroter, Teresa Duncan, Brett Campbell, Zollie Stevenson, and Dale Whittington)
The on-line program for the 2014 Annual Conference will be available in early February. Here are the dates and times I know so far. (Locations are still to be announced.)
4a. Graduate Student Orientation and Early Career Mentoring Session, Thursday, April 3, 10-noon. During the first hour we provide information about Division H, our monetary support for mentoring visits, and how to negotiate the Annual Meeting. During the second hour, we host graduate student research roundtables. Refreshments!
4b. Movers and Shakers, Thursday, April 3, 8-10 pm, VP Suite. Don't let the name scare you away. This meeting is a time for Division H members to meet, greet, and take care of action items. This year we will be voting on revisions to our section descriptions.We welcome everyone who would like to become more involved in Division H. Refreshments!
4c. Division H Breakfast and Business Meeting, Sunday, April 6, 8-10 am. Sponsored by Pearson and Mid-Atlantic REL at ICF. In addition to food and souvenirs for all attendees, we recognize those who have made Division H successful this past year, those who have won Division H Awards, and our incoming VP and Secretary, Zollie Stevenson and Evelyn Belton-Kocher.
4d. Division VP Invited Sessions. There are four such session this year--
4dl. Do African-American Male Students Still Lag Behind Given the Multiplicity of Changes In Programs, Policies, and Practices? (organized by our Affirmative Action Committee, Debora Ortloff, Chair);
4d2. Fresh and Innovative Graduate Students Work in School-Based Research, Evaluation, and Assessment (organized by our Graduate Student Senior and Junior Reps, Ruhan Circi and Matthew Lavery);
4d3. The Use of Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) in Teacher Evaluation: Measurement and Policy Considerations (joint session with DRE organized by Toni Stroter).
4d4. Taking Stock of America's Teacher-Evaluation Tempest (organized by Jim Popham).
5. Publication Awards. This year we received 56 submissions, up from 37 last year. The increases were primarily in the areas of Program Evaluation (21 submissions this year; up from 13) and dissertation (16 submissions this year, up from 7). Submissions are being reviewed right now. Winners will be announced at our Breakfast/Business meeting on April 6. Thanks to Dale Whittington ([email protected]), Stacey Merola ([email protected]), and their team of 46 reviewers.
6. Centennial Survey. If you have not yet done so, please complete the Centennial Survey; it will help us plan our program for AERA's centennial. The link is http://uconn.checkboxonline.com/F13.aspx
7. Mentee Write-Ups. Each year Division H supports four early career colleagues or final year graduate students to visit a site that is doing work they are interested in pursuing. We provide $1000 toward the expenses of mentees doing site visits. Each mentee submits a write-up of his or her experience. In December I sent the write-up for Suzanne Elgendy. This month I include three more below.
Thanks to our mentor volunteers and to Toni Stroter, [email protected], Early Career/Graduate Student Mentoring Committee Chair. Contact Toni for additional information about 2014 award opportunities.
7a. Cordelia Lamb (mentor Dawn Williams, Howard University).
7b. Pius Ochwo (mentor Tremayne Waller, Cornell University).
7c. April Burke (menter Lisa Schmitt, Austin Independent School District)
8. Jobs and Conferences
8a. Cooke Fellowship. In 2014 the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation will award six fellowships of up to $25,000 to advanced doctoral students completing dissertations that further the understanding of the educational pathways and experiences of high-achieving, low-income students. Please click here for an informational flyer. To learn more about the Fellowship, visit their website.
8b. First annual Carnegie Foundation Summit on Improvement in Education, March 10-12, 2014, at the San Francisco Marriott Waterfront Hotel. The Carnegie Foundation wants to engage attendees from across all aspects of education and from all sectors to work together on how to apply improvement science methods to address problems in education. There are breakout sessions featuring leading experts who will share specific examples, tools, and templates. Visit the link above to register.