Spotlight

Berends Elected to National Academy of Education

Mark Berends, the director of the University of Notre Dame’s Center for Research on Educational Opportunity and a professor of sociology, has been elected to the National Academy of Education.

New Study Explores Long-Term Impact of Educational Access in Chilean Schools

What would happen if we granted access for some of the most impoverished children in our communities to attend society’s best, most elite schools? A new study from the Institute for Educational Initiatives explores questions like this in Chile.

Miller-Graff Awarded $2.5 Million Grant from NIH

IEI Fellow Laura Miller-Graff, along with co-principal investigator Kathryn Howell of the University of Memphis, has been awarded $2.5 million from the National Institutes of Health to launch and evaluate an intervention program for pregnant women.

New Literacy Research Office Launches at Notre Dame

The James R. Squire Office of Policy Research in the English Language Arts is a partnership between the National Council of Teachers of English and the Notre Dame Center for Literacy Education.

Research reveals teachers’ biases when rating first-graders’ academic skills based on learning behavior

A recent study, co-authored by a University of Notre Dame professor, shows how educators’ racial and gender biases affect their assessments of students’ academic skills based on noncognitive skills, which include behavior, class participation, self-discipline and interpersonal skills. Read more.

Rev. Tim Scully, C.S.C., to step down as head of Notre Dame’s Institute for Educational Initiatives to become emeritus director

Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) founder Rev. Timothy R. Scully, C.S.C., announced he will step down from his role as director of the Institute for Educational Initiatives at the University of Notre Dame and become director emeritus of the institute beginning in January. Read more. 

Trinter Awarded Luksic Family Collaboration Grant through Notre Dame International

Dr. Christine Trinter, an assistant professor of mathematics education in the Notre Dame Center for STEM Education and a Fellow of the Institute for Educational Initiatives, has been awarded a Luksic Family Collaboration Grant through Notre Dame International. The grant will contribute a portion of the funds necessary for her team to host a research-practitioner conference in Santiago, Chile, to study the philosophy of differentiated instruction in Chilean schools. Read more. 

Notre Dame Places Two on Edu-Scholar Rankings

Ernest Morrell and Mark Berends were named in the Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings, an annual listing published by Education Week of the 200 scholars who had the year’s biggest impact on educational practice and policy. Read more. 

Narvaez Guides Templeton Grant Project on Civic Virtues

The “Self, Virtue and Public Life Project,” which began this week and runs through 2021, will fund research projects, conferences, edited volumes, and community outreach activities.Notre Dame psychologist Darcia Narvaez is helping lead a $3.9 million Templeton Religion Trust grant that will support new research on civic virtues.

McNeil Named as APS Fellow

Nicole McNeil, the Director of the Interdisciplinary Minor in Education, Schooling, and Society, an ACE Professor of Psychology, and a fellow of the Institute for Educational Initiatives, has been selected as a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science.

The Association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of scientific psychology and its representation at the national and international level. Fellow status is awarded to members who have made sustained, outstanding contributions to the science of psychology in the areas of research, teaching, service, and application.

Svarovsky Receives $400,000 NSF Grant to Transform Engineering Education

A team led by Dr. Gina Svarovsky of the University of Notre Dame’s Center for STEM Education will conduct a three-year study to examine how engineering experiences can make a lasting impression on children and their families, ultimately having the potential to influence the children’s interests, school trajectories, and professional careers.

The National Science Foundation awarded $400,000 for the team to implement the Research Exploring Activity Characteristics and Heuristics for Early Childhood Engineering (REACH-ECE) study, which will examine the effectiveness of engineering activities for children between the ages of 3 and 5 and their families. Read more. 

Dr. Nancy Michael Honored with Frank O'Malley Undergraduate Teaching Award

Each year at Notre Dame, students nominate, vote, and help bestow the Frank O'Malley Undergraduate Teaching Award to an outstanding faculty member based upon excellent service to the student community. The distinguished honoree for 2018 is Dr. Nancy Michael, an assistant teaching professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, the director of undergraduate studies, Neuroscience and Behavior, and a Fellow in the Institute for Educational Initiatives. Read more. 

Chen to Lead $1.4 Million Project to Improve Assessment Testing for High School Students

Ying Alison Cheng, associate professor of psychology and fellow of the Institute for Educational Initiatives (IEI) at the University of Notre Dame, will lead a $1.4 million project funded by the Institute of Education Sciences to develop the intelligent diagnostic assessment program (i-DAP) for high school statistics education. 

Read the full article on research.nd.edu.

$1m Grant for CREO Vouchers Study

A three-year grant from the Spencer Foundation will allow CREO to conduct an in-depth study of impacts from Indiana's vouchers policy. See coverage in Indiana Education Insight , Transforming Education through Technology (THE Journal), and Campus Technology.