Announcements

January 2010

Our next colloquium speaker is Richard Arum. Dr. Arum is a Professor of Sociology and Education at New York University, as well as Director of the Educational Research Program at the Social Science Research Council. He will share findings from the Collegiate Learning Association Longitudinal Study, which is tracking 2,300 students at 24 higher education institutions to examine what factors are associated with learning in higher education. These findings will provide much-needed information both about what determines success in college, as well as what might be done at the high school level to promote such success. For more information about this talk, click here.

As consultants for A+ Schools, the Learning Policy Center just completed a 15-month research project on teacher staffing, distribution, and mobility in Pittsburgh Public Schools. The project was highlighted in this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette news article. To read the LPC technical paper for the project and/or sign on to the A+ Schools Community Agenda for Empowering Effective Teachers in PPS, go to the A+ Schools website by clicking here.

November 2009

The next speaker in our Learning Policy Center Colloquium Series is William Tate from the University of Washington in St. Louis! His talk is on engineering quality academic and social opportunities for urban school students in the face of significant structural barriers. For more information about the talk, click here.

October 2009

The Learning Policy Center proudly announces our entire 2009-2010 Colloquium Series: Preparing Students for Life Beyond K-12. If you cannot attend any of these events, they will be available via live webcast by clicking links below (test your browser prior to viewing any webcasts by clicking here and viewing the Welcome to Mediasite presentation). To view videos for past presentations, click links in the right column on this page.

Events in the series are:

October 22, 2009, 3 to 4:30pm: Allan Collins, Professor Emeritus of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University, "Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology" (now available via free, on-demand video)

December 9, 2009, 2:30 to 4pm: William Tate, Professor of Education in Arts and Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, "Beyond the Business of Parallel Play: Engineering Changes in METS"
An RSVP is required to attend this free event. To RSVP, click here. Click here at 2:30pm EST on 12/9 to view the live webcast.

February 25, 2010, 2:30 to 4pm: Richard Arum, Professor of Sociology and Education, New York University & Director of Educational Research Program, Social Science Research Council, "Limited Learning in U.S. Colleges: Findings from the CLA Study" (Link for live webcast will be provided closer to the date of the event.)

March 25, 2010, 2:30 to 4pm: Patricia Gandara, Professor of Education & Co-director of The Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles, UCLA, "Finding Solutions to the Latino Education Crisis: An American Imperative" (Link for live webcast will be provided closer to the date of the event.)

For more information about these events and speakers, click here.

All talks will be transmitted via live webcast and available as on-demand videos in the weeks following each event.

September 2009

The first speaker for our 2009-2010 Learning Policy Center Colloquium Series - Preparing Students for Life Beyond K-12 - is Allan Collins.

Dr. Collins’ talk will take place on Thursday, October 22nd, from 3 to 4:30pm in the Glaser Auditorium in the Learning Research and Development Center (2nd Floor). A reception will follow on the 9th floor from 4:30 to 6pm.

Dr. Collins is Professor Emeritus of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University. His talk, entitled "Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology," is based on his just-published book by the same name. In the talk, he will discuss how people are learning with the aid of new technologies and how these new technologies are changing the way we think about education. He will also discuss what these changes mean for a new kind of educational leadership and government. For more information about this event, click here.

This event is free and open to the public, but an RSVP is required. To RSVP, click here.

April 2009

Research for Practice One Day Conference to be Held on April 30, 2009

The Learning Research and Development Center along with the LPC will host a Research For Practice conference on Thursday, April 30th. The conference will feature the country’s leading voices on how to configure the relationship between research and the improvement of educational practices. Speakers include:

  • Grover J. “Russ” Whitehurst (Director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution and former Director of the Institute for Education Sciences);
  • Anthony Bryk (President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching);
  • Vivian Tseng (Program Officer, William T. Grant Foundation);
  • Cynthia Coburn (University of California, Berkeley);
  • Joan Ferrini-Mundy (Director of the National Science Foundation’s Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources); and
  • Michael Feuer (Executive Director, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, The National Academies).

The Research for Practice one-day conference will be streamed live on the web from the University of Pittsburgh’s Learning Research and Development Center. Audience members who tune in for the live webcast will be able to post their questions online during the talks. For more information on the conference schedule and times for live webcasts of all presentations, go to: http://www.lrdc.pitt.edu/eventsnconferences/research_practice_conf.php

March 2009

2008-2009 Colloquium Series Continues with Alan Lesgold on April 2, 2009

Alan Lesgold is professor and dean of the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh and also professor of psychology and intelligent systems. In his presentation, he will discuss the virtually ubiquitous belief that American schools are not preparing students adequately for citizenship and a productive life in the 21st century. Within this context, Alan will discuss (i) the nature of productive work in a world where computers can do any task we fully understand, (ii) the implications of this reality for schooling, and (iii) why the New Standards Project Applied Learning Standards have had so little influence on education. For more information on Alan Lesgold and his upcoming presentation, click here.

This event is free and open to the public, but an RSVP is required. To RSVP, click here.

February 2009

2008-2009 Colloquium Series Continues with Richard Rothstein on March 3, 2009

Richard Rothstein was the national education columnist of The New York Times from 1999-2002. He is currently a Research Associate with the Economic Policy Institute, and is coming to the Learning Policy Center to deliver a talk entitled "Getting Accountability Right". Rothstein contends that we should hold public schools accountable for effectively spending the vast funds with which they have been entrusted. But instead of grading a school’s progress in just math and reading (No Child Left Behind), we should hold schools accountable for the broad outcomes we expect from public education - basic knowledge and skills, critical thinking, an appreciation of the arts, physical and emotional health, and preparation for skilled employment - and then develop the means to measure, and ensure, schools’ success in achieving them. In this talk, based on his new book, Grading Education (http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/books_grading_education), Richard Rothstein will describes a new kind of accountability plan for public education, one that relies upon both higher-quality testing and professional evaluation.

This event is free and open to the public, but an RSVP is required. To RSVP, click here.

January 2009

2008-2009 Colloquium Series Continues with Michael Cohen on February 12, 2009

Michael Cohen is a nationally recognized leader in education policy and standards-based reform. He has been the President of Achieve since 2003. Michael is coming to the Learning Policy Center to discuss why many young people earn a high school diploma but lack the fundamental academic skills to be prepared for postsecondary education and 21st century careers. One of the key contributing factors is the gap between the expectations for high school graduation and the real world demands students face after completing high school. To this end, the The American Diploma Project (ADP) Network was formed in 2005 to help states close this gap and improve postsecondary preparation. Michael’s talk, "Improving Postsecondary Preparation: Lessons from the American Diploma Project Network", will provide an overview of the ADP policy agenda and the progress states are making in addressing it. For an abstract of the presentation along with a brief bio for Michael Cohen, click here

This event is free and open to the public, but an RSVP is required. To RSVP, click here.

December 2008

2008-2009 Colloquium Series Continues with Kati Haycock on January 15th, 2009

Kati Haycock is one of the leading child advocates in the field of education. She currently serves as President of The Education Trust. Established in’90, the Trust does what no other Washington-based education organization seeks to do: speaks up for what’s right for young people, especially those who are poor or members of minority groups. Her presentation is entitled "Improving Achievement and Closing Gaps Between Groups: Lessons from Schools and Districts on the Performance Frontier". For an abstract of the presentation along with a bio for Kati Haycock, click here.

This event is free and open to the public, but an RSVP is required. To RSVP, click here.

November 2008

2008-2009 Colloquium Series Continues with Dr. Jane Hannaway on December 3, 2008

Jane Hannaway is Director of the Education Policy Center at the Urban Institute & Director of CALDER (Center for the Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research). Her presentation is entitled "Unbounding Rationality: Education Policy and Practice in a Data Rich Environment". For an abstract of the presentation along with a bio for Jane Hannaway, click here.

September 2008

Grants Awarded to Learning Policy Center and Learning Sciences and Policy Program Faculty!

Congratulations to LPC faculty Richard Correnti and Lindsay Clare Matsumura, who - along with LSAP faculty and RAND colleague Laura Hamilton - recently received a three-year grant from the Spencer Foundation and William T. Grant Foundation to investigate the measurement of teacher instruction and the impact of instruction on student learning! Their work will specifically focus upon how measures of instruction relate to student achievement and to the distribution of learning opportunities among students. For more information, click here.

Congratulations as well to LSAP faculty Christian Schunn, who is participating in the 21st Century Center for Cognition and Science Instruction (CaSE), a five-year, $10 Million Institute of Education Sciences center grant to improve middle school science education! Dr. Schunn is a lead PI for the University of Pittsburgh subcontract for the center grant. For more information, click here.

2008-2009 Colloquium Series Begins with Dr. Lauren Resnick

The Learning Policy Center is pleased to announce Dr. Lauren Resnick as the first speaker in our 2008-2009 Colloquium Series, "Excellence and Equity in an Era of Accountability." Dr. Resnick’s presentation - "Standards-Based Reform: A Powerful Idea Unmoored" - will address the twin goals of excellence and equity within education, how those goals developed and became entwined with the standards movement and NCLB, whether the goals were accomplished, and at what cost. For more information click here.

Dr. Resnick is an internationally known scholar in the cognitive science of learning and instruction. She is a University of Pittsburgh Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science, and she directed the University of Pittsburgh’s Learning Research and Development Center from 1977-2008. In addition, Dr. Resnick is the founder and director of the University’s Institute for Learning. For a full bio click here.

Other speakers for the 2008-2009 Colloquium Series will include President of Education Trust, Kati Haycock (January 15, 2009) and President of Achieve, Inc., Michael Cohen (February 12, 2009). Additional speakers to be announcement shortly!

August 2008

New Executive Director: Julia Kaufman

The Learning Policy Center is pleased to announce the hire of our new Executive Director, Julia Kaufman, who will replace Sarah Coon. Sarah recently took a position with the charter school management organization Achievement First as part of the Broad Residency in Urban Education. Sarah will be greatly missed for her contribution to the work of the Learning Policy Center, but we also look forward to the skills and talents Julia brings as our new Executive Director. To read Julia’s bio click here.

June 2008

Learning Policy and Sciences PhD Program Announces Its First Student Cohort
The LSAP faculty are proud to welcome our first student cohort to the University of Pittsburgh. Our students were selected through a competitive application process. This fall we look forward to welcoming all our new students:

  • Samuel Abramovich
  • Laura Bray
  • David Frank
  • James Scherrer
  • Mary Ann Steiner
  • Miray Tekkumru

Learn more about our new students here.

May 2008

Outstanding Dissertation Award
Jennifer Lin Russell, Assistant Professor in the Learning Policy Center was just awarded the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Education Outstanding Dissertation Award for 2007.

Jenn’s dissertation “Not Kid Stuff Anymore? Institutional Change in Kindergarten Education” explores the extent to which kindergartens have shifted from a development model emphasizing social skills and play to a year of formal academic instruction. It illuminates how shifting conceptions of appropriate kindergarten education and state and local policies influence kindergarten teachers’ instructional practices. The project was funded by the Spencer Foundation.

Congratulations to Jenn for this exciting accomplishment!

April 2008

2 Million Minutes
On April 8th at 2:30pm, the Learning Policy Center and Strong American Schools ED in ’08 Campaign sponsor a screening of 2 Million Minutes, a provocative documentary about how the three superpowers of the 21st Century - China, India, and the United States - are preparing their students for the future. Strong American Schools ED in ’08 campaign senior staff will discuss the presidential candidates’ education agendas and the role of education in the election, and Pittsburgh Public School leaders will provide a local perspective to this important national discussion. For more information or to register for this event, go to http://www.learningpolicycenter.org/content/events/colloquium/

March 2008

LPC Faculty Presentations at AERA Annual Conference March 24-28
Our faculty will present on learning and policy topics at the American Educational Research Association annual conference in New York City in March. Presentation topics include:

* District Role in Building, Supporting and Sustaining Instructional Capacity
* Measuring Classroom Instruction: The State of the Art
* Developing Leadership for Science and Mathematics Instructional Reform
* Organizational Change: Innovations in Theory and Research
* District Curricular Reform: A Longitudinal StudyThe Impact of Accountability Systems on Early Childhood and Gifted Education

A complete list of presentation dates and times is available here.

Colloquia Videos Available On LPC Website
In case you missed any of our colloquium events, all 2007-2008 LPC colloquiua now available on the LPC website.

February 2008

Two Upcoming LPC Colloquia:
The Learning Policy Center looks forward to two exciting events this month. On February 6, 2008, the LPC welcomes Susan Fuhrman, Teachers College, Columbia University and Ron Cowell, Education Policy and Leadership Center (EPLC) for a discussion of "The Role of States in Education Reform".

Also this month, on February 27, 2008, the LPC welcomes James Hiebert, University of Delaware School of Education and Lisle Staley Stigler, Pearson Achievement Solutions to explore "Research-Based Guidelines For Improving Mathematics Instruction".

January 2008

New Website:The Learning Policy Center welcomes you to our new website! The website includes information about the center and our activities including research, events, and policy activity. You can access our website at both www.learningpolicycenter.org and www.lpc.pitt.edu. There are many more features that will be added in the coming months, so please check back again soon.

Learning Policy Briefs:The Learning Policy Center will begin publishing policy briefs in February 2008. Mary Kay Stein will introduce the policy brief series with an agenda setting brief titled “Why Learning Policy?” Briefs will be available on the website and via email newsletters. Sign-up now to receive Learning Policy Briefs via email.