Education

Award-winning Professional Development Schools offer an innovative solution for teacher retention

Sarah Holland — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 15:19:01 +0000

Award-winning Professional Development Schools offer an innovative solution for teacher retention Sarah Holland Fri, 06/16/2023 - 11:19

Over the past year, headlines from across the United States have warned of the pending educator exodus.

The New York Times, calling it the “Great Teacher Resignation,” cited a National Education Association survey in November 2022 in which 55% of teacher respondents said they were considering leaving the profession. A 2022 study by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission on behalf of the Virginia General Assembly reported that nearly all school divisions in Virginia indicated increasing difficulty in both recruiting and retaining teachers.

For Northern Virginia, ��AV’s College of Education and Human Development’s (CEHD) award-winning Professional Development School (PDS) program is a beacon of hope.

Katya Pocasangre, Centreville Elementary School teacher candidate, poses in the classroom. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding.

PDS programs offer an innovative alternative to the traditional method of internships—in which a teacher candidate (students who are working toward undergraduate or graduate degrees in education) is placed into a primary or secondary school with limited collaboration between the university and school divisions.

Instead, PDS programs are developed through reciprocal partnership between universities and school divisions, in which staff and faculty on both sides work in cooperation to create effective, impactful, and immersive teaching experiences for candidates. The Elementary Education Program in CEHD has utilized the PDS model for 20 years with multiple school divisions throughout Northern Virginia.

“It’s an incredible framework to be partners in teacher preparation and professional development with our school divisions,” Audra Parker, Mason professor and academic program coordinator for elementary education, explained. “School-based teacher educators are our partners in teacher preparation—together we engage in mutually beneficial, ongoing professional learning. They keep us current in what’s happening in the classrooms, and we maintain currency in research and best practices. Together we bridge theory and practice as we support teacher candidates’ professional growth.”

Soma Kochany, Centreville Elementary School teacher candidate, leads a lesson for her first-grade class. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding.

Scaffoldings of support allow for these teacher candidates to grow and thrive in the classroom environment, which in turn has a long-lasting impact on retention rates for teachers, particularly those who continue to teach in public schools. The program’s emphasis on practical classroom experience along with understanding, becoming part of, and even impacting the school’s culture helps teacher candidates feel welcome and supported—and therefore more likely to stay.

“We have mentor-teachers in these schools who are program-completers who were then hired into the school,” said Charlene O’Brien, university facilitator for PDS programming. “We’re planting the seeds and watching them grow, thrive, and support the next generation.”

“I’m getting a year-long interview with a future candidate, and that candidate is learning our school culture, the expectations of the job, and is building relationships with our faculty and staff,” said Joshua Douds, MEd Educational Leadership ‘05, principal of Centreville Elementary School (CES). CES is one of the schools in the program demonstrative of its vision and mission, evident in it receiving the National Association of Professional Development School’s 2023 Exemplary PDS Award. Almost 15 of CES’s current teachers were once teacher candidates at CES.

Andrea Barraza, Centreville Elementary School teacher candidate, will start teaching fourth grade full-time at Centreville Elementary School next academic year. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding.

“This award validates the work we’ve done, and gives national recognition to the PDS program, how important it is and how much better it is for teachers, schools, and districts,” Douds said.

The immersion of teacher candidates into the fabric of the classroom and the school system also allows for better education for all parties—teacher candidates, faculty, and students. “Teacher candidates from Mason bring in the newest ideas around education and their diverse perspectives, which forces us to reflect on our practices, which makes us stronger educators,” Douds explained. “And that, in turn, benefits the students.”

“The responsibility we expect of our candidates can be daunting, but because of the support and scaffolding, our students feel confident and are able to rise to those standards,” said Parker.

Teacher candidates aren't just improving the day-to-day management of classrooms and teaching; their impact extends to the systems and structures of the schools themselves. One recent community-mapping project led by teacher candidates at CES resulted in the development of school-wide daily mindfulness practices in order to improve mental health among staff, faculty, and students.

The teacher candidate who took the lead on that project is now a full-time faculty member at CES.

“Allowing our teacher candidates to spearhead this kind of innovation sends a message: ‘You help make our school better every day,’” O’Brien said. “And I just love that belief that they can do it.”

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Principal of the Year creates a welcoming environment where students can succeed

Sarah Holland — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 18:36:10 +0000

Principal of the Year creates a welcoming environment where students can succeed Sarah Holland Wed, 06/07/2023 - 14:36

*Editor's note: Since this article was published, Liza Burrell-Aldana has transitioned from principal of Mount Vernon Community School to principal of Claremont Immersion School.

A video call with Principal Liza Burrell-Aldana, MEd Education Leadership ’13, started, first, with a challenge for which she was already finding solutions.

“Our internet is out this morning, so I needed to make a hotspot,” she said.

Then, she happily showed off her Zoom background: a poster for the Disney film Encanto. “I love this movie,” she said, “I’m from Colombia, so the movie speaks to my heart.”

It's a snapshot of her exceptional leadership qualities: a problem-solver unfazed by hiccups or road bumps, welcoming and relatable to a diverse population of students and community members alike. And it’s one of many reasons why Burrell-Aldana was named the Washington Post’s 2023 Principal of the Year.

Burrell-Aldana joins a legacy of Mason alumni honored for their exceptional leadership in school administration. “It’s humbling and rewarding to have our work recognized,” she said.

Burrell-Aldana received her bachelor’s degree in foreign languages from Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia, going on to earn her first master’s from the School of International Training in Vermont.

A job opportunity brought her to Northern Virginia, where her administrative aspirations led to her being selected for a cohort in the ��AV’s Master of Education program in the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD). For the past six years, she has served as principal of Mount Vernon Community School (MVCS)—Alexandria City’s only full English-Spanish dual-language school, a formal designation Burrell-Aldana championed in her previous role as one of MVCS’s assistant principals.

MVCS is the oldest school building in Alexandria, which comes with unique challenges. Years of deferred maintenance led to an ongoing series of health and structural concerns as Burrell-Aldana stepped into the role of principal. Mold, asbestos, HVAC issues, an ancient playground: “If you can think of a building maintenance problem, we had it in this school,” Burrell-Aldana said.

Burrell-Aldana faced these problems head-on. During her six-year tenure, renovations have transformed the historic building into a safer, cleaner, and vastly improved environment for students—an environment, Burrell-Aldana emphasizes, they can be proud of and excited to come to every day.

“Fifty-three percent of our student population is Hispanic, many of them living in one of the poorest communities in Alexandria,” she explained. “To care for the space is to show care for the students, to prove to them that they matter and are worth investing in. Not all students have the privilege of having that in their homes, so having their school be a healthy, healing space conducive to learning is necessary for their success. And for our teachers, they can do their best work now that they feel physically safe in the space.”

Liza Burrell-Aldana, 2023 Principal of the Year. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding

Throughout the renovations, parents and the greater community were kept informed of the ongoing challenges, the proposed solutions, and the steps toward completion of each major milestone. “It took collaboration with the community, a lot of advocacy. And their response has been so positive; it’s shown them that advocacy can be successful, and that the administration prioritizes the safety and health of the community.”

The renovations are only one of a long list of Burrell-Aldana's achievements as an administrator, including guiding her faculty and students through COVID disruptions, redesigning curricula, and increasing the number of referrals of Latinx and Black students into gifted and talented programs.

Burrell-Aldana attributes much of her success as an administrator to the foundations built in Mason’s MEd program. The practical, hands-on experience gained through the program allows her to approach the challenges of school administration with confidence and courage.

“Every time I’m in the decision-making process, I remember those lessons and conversations with Mason professors,” she said. “I truly believe that what Mason does for school administrators is so meaningful and foundational, because it gives us a wealth of practical experience we can apply daily.”

“As a teacher, Dr. Liza Burrell-Aldana made her decisions based on what is best for all students; as a principal, she understands that leadership is not an event, but it is the consistency of her caring that creates lasting relationships with staff, parents, and community,” said Roberto Pamas, director of the Office of Teacher Preparation in CEHD, and one of Burrell-Aldana's former professors. “Her impact to the school and community is limitless.”

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ASEE SE conference focuses on a diversely educated workforce

Rena Malai — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 13:52:44 +0000

ASEE SE conference focuses on a diversely educated workforce Rena Malai Fri, 03/17/2023 - 09:52

In This Story

Kenneth Ball

Gurdip Singh

Janis Terpenny

Given the digital society we live in now, it’s important to think about how well students are prepared for it.

This was a point made clear by ��AV Systems Engineering and Operations Research and Mechanical Engineering professor and National Science Foundation (NSF) Program Director Janis Terpenny, during a panel at the 2023 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Southeastern section conference. The conference was hosted by Mason this week at Mason Square in Arlington, with this year’s theme Educating the Inclusive Engineer: Diverse, Innovative, Accountable.

Alongside Terpenny, the ASEE SE panel Changing the Landscape of the Digital Workforce and DEI: A Call to Action and Research in Engineering Education included Mason Divisional Dean of the School of Computing Gurdip Singh and other education experts like NSF Division Director of Engineering Education & Centers José L. Zayas-Castro.

“My interest is in the perspective of how digital transformation can be embraced in the computing curriculum,” Singh said. “We can develop and think more on how to do that.”

Fuse (at Mason Square) will be a new, 345,000-square-foot hub for digital innovation that will promote the exchange of new ideas and the transfer of technology between Mason’s researchers and students and industry partners to accelerate the development of digital innovation. According to College of Engineering and Computing Dean Ken Ball, Mason is proud to host such an important conference for the first time, and at such a great venue.

“It is an honor and a privilege to host fellow engineering educators here in the Washington, D.C., area,” says Ball who is Chair of ASEE’s Engineering Deans Council, the leadership organization of engineering deans in the United States, with approximately 300 members.

Dr. Natalia Cardelino leads a technical session. Photo by Ron Aira/Creative Services

The 2023 ASEE SE conference brought together engineering educators, industry leaders, and students to discuss and learn about the importance of promoting a diverse, digitally prepared workforce within engineering and STEM education paths. Conference attendees joined a variety of plenary sessions to learn about topics like ChatGPT use, creating optimal learning environments for student success, early outreach for K-12 students, and structural design.

Students competed in a poster competition during the conference, detailing work they’ve accomplished. Projects included creating environmentally sound recreation space from toxically saturated "brownfield" sites of abandoned gas stations, and a virtual reality rock climbing experience for those with disabilities.

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Study: Federal Pandemic Aid to Public Schools Was Insufficient; $700B Needed to Offset Effect on Economy

Andrew J Schappert — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 14:10:01 +0000

Study: Federal Pandemic Aid to Public Schools Was Insufficient; $700B Needed to Offset Effect on Economy Andrew J Schappert Tue, 10/11/2022 - 10:10

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Matthew Steinberg: ‘School leaders need to take seriously the short- and long-term consequences of learning loss and commit to addressing it with whatever federal resources they have available.’

Although the federal government provided an unprecedented level of emergency funding to U.S. public schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, this support was insufficient and poorly targeted to offset the cost of recovering student learning loss, according to new research.

The study, by Schar School Associate Professor Matthew P. Steinberg and University of Delaware Assistant Professor Kenneth A. Shores, was published this week in Educational Researcher, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Educational Research Association (AERA).

Steinberg, director of EdPolicy Forward: The Center for Education Policy, and Shores estimate that $700 billion will be needed to offset COVID-induced learning loss, far more than the $190 billion allocated to public K–12 schools by the federal government through Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds. ESSER funding was approved through three bills signed into law in 2020 and 2021.

“Despite an extraordinary level of support by the federal government during the pandemic, U.S. schools are still $500 billion short of what’s needed to address unpreceded levels of learning loss,” said Steinberg. “While the investment in ESSER was incredible in scale, it pales in comparison to the negative impact on the economy if a generation of children does not recover from what this pandemic has done to them academically.”

To estimate the cost of remediating student learning loss, the authors leveraged prior estimates of learning loss, time spent in remote instruction, and the cost of increasing student achievement, gleaned from existing research studies and data from the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Census Bureau, and other sources.

Shores and Steinberg also found that ESSER funds—issued through the Department of Education’s Title I program—were likely not distributed to places with the greatest learning loss.

“COVID-19 hit communities of color very hard, regardless of poverty,” said Shores. “Communities of color that may have faced difficult challenges due to the pandemic would not have received the funds needed to remediate student learning losses.”

The authors note that many school districts do not plan to use the majority of ESSER funds they receive to offset learning loss, and that there is little way for policymakers to know how ESSER support is being used.

“Policymakers should require, or least provide incentives to, school districts to use federal aid for remediating student learning losses,” said Steinberg. “This is much more important than using it, for example, for new facilities construction—such as athletic fields—that have little to do with addressing the academic needs of students.”

“School leaders need to take seriously the short- and long-term consequences of learning loss and commit to addressing it with whatever federal resources they have available,” he added. “At the same time, policymakers should work to establish data monitoring systems to track how districts are spending federal stimulus funds in real time.”

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Schar School Welcomes ‘Exiled’ Ukrainian Media Professor

Andrew J Schappert — Wed, 23 Feb 2022 18:41:38 +0000

Schar School Welcomes ‘Exiled’ Ukrainian Media Professor Andrew J Schappert Wed, 02/23/2022 - 13:41

In This Story

Mark J. Rozell

Janine R. Wedel

Anton Liagusha: ‘I have a really great opportunity to think in another world with different approaches to life.’ Photo by Shelby Burgess/Creative Services

The conflict in Ukraine the world is observing now is nothing new to Anton Liagusha.

When gun-brandishing, Russia-backed separatists took over the Donetsk National University in Donetsk, Ukraine, in 2014, the country’s prime minister hastily relocated the school to a new campus in Vinnytsia, 20 hours away by train. Now the disused former diamond-cutting factory is the site of a university that is, technically, in exile.

“It was a very difficult time,” Liagusha said. Liagusha, an associate professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government, was one of 600 teachers at the university—his alma mater—who were forced to relocate. Some 150 professors did so, but only about 5,000 of the 18,000 students followed. With few students and a diminishing source of funding, Liagusha had one more relocation in his future.

Liagusha was selected to come to the Schar School for a year under the New University in Exile Consortium program, which assists endangered and persecuted scholars and provides them means to continue their teaching and research.

He is continuing his studies on media’s influence on politics and culture and how the public consumes information. A media studies scholar and a former radio journalist, Liagusha focuses on “fake news,” disinformation, and propaganda―topics for him that are far more than academic.

“It is an honor to have a world-class scholar such as Anton to serve on our faculty,” said Janine Wedel, a Schar School University Professor who studies corruption and was instrumental in bringing him to Mason.

“At a time of increased threats globally against academic and journalistic freedom, the consortium plays a critical role in providing threatened scholars and reporters a position from which they can do their critically important work,” said Schar School Dean Mark J. Rozell. “The Schar School’s academic programs benefit from the many contributions that the visiting scholars and journalists make to our community during their affiliation with us.”

At the Schar School, where he teaches the course Media and Policy in the Era of Fake News, Liagusha can continue his studies, which are more important now than ever.

“I have a really great opportunity to do my research and to think in another world with different approaches to life,” he said.

“My special interest is not only public policy, but a wider field of public history, how contemporary media, social media, and mass culture use different contexts—heroes, antiheroes, narratives from the past—to support political decision-makers in Europe and especially Eastern Europe. And now I would like to see how it works at the United States.”

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Podcast - EP32: Hakeem Oluseyi calls his education 'a matter of life and death'

Damian Cristodero — Wed, 10 Nov 2021 19:24:16 +0000

Podcast - EP32: Hakeem Oluseyi calls his education 'a matter of life and death' Damian Cristodero Wed, 11/10/2021 - 14:24

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Gregory Washington

Hakeem Oluseyi tells ��AV President Gregory Washington how he went from a life of crime to being one of the world’s renowned astrophysicists. The Visiting Robinson Professor at Mason also describes what aliens might look like – think a two-foot tall Incredible Hulk – and tells a remarkable tale of how working as a hotel janitor, and eating room-service leftovers to survive, made him understand that his education was “a matter of life and death.”

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Mason professor says social isolation, lack of routine threatens mental health of children, teens

Colleen Rich — Thu, 17 Dec 2020 20:33:59 +0000

Mason professor says social isolation, lack of routine threatens mental health of children, teens Colleen Rich Thu, 12/17/2020 - 15:33

During the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. children and teens are increasingly struggling with mental health issues as they become more disconnected from their peers and school routines, said Nicole Beadles, an assistant professor in ��AV’s College of Education and Human Development and academic program coordinator for the school psychology program.

Nicole Beadles. Photo by Creative Services

“When as a teen or a child, you are cut off from school, which is your infrastructure and routine, you can lose perspective,” said Beadles. “You are cut off from your world and left in an often tiny, isolated room. You can retreat more and more into your own head, and your thoughts can spiral and go to a dark place.”

Before Beadles taught at Mason, she had years of experience working as a school psychologist, in local districts, including Fairfax County Public Schools and Montgomery County Public Schools. She emphasizes the important role that school psychologists, counselors and other services play in ensuring the mental health of children. Beadles says that school psychologists and counselors also often refer students to community assistance programs.

Beadles noted that for some students, virtual learning and escaping busy school routines and their peer group can be a much-needed break. Those students, she said, are experiencing a relief by “hitting a pause button.” But for other students, the isolation can be extremely difficult, especially if their family life is challenging.

“If you are a student from a family where there is financial strain, mental health issues, abuse or drug use, for example, when your world shrinks because of the pandemic, what are you shrinking to? What’s left in front of you?” Beadles said. “We need to focus on getting even more help for these students.”

Students suffering through isolation from their peers may be tempted to break the rules and find ways to congregate. Beadles said that parents may be finding it difficult to enforce social distancing and other public health rules with their children, especially their teens.

“Teens don’t like to follow rules, and they don’t always make good decisions,” Beadles said. “They also don’t have years and years of experience to be able to predict or understand the consequences of their actions. While at the beginning of the pandemic they may have been following the rules, they may now be pushing against them.”

Beadles said that while challenging rules is a normal part of development, it can obviously be dangerous, especially in a pandemic.

“It’s important that parents provide guidance, helping with the emotional challenges of isolation but also placing limits and providing motivation for wearing masks and staying socially distant,” Beadles said. “None of this is easy, and it’s OK as a parent to just do the best you can do.”

To reach Nicole Beadles directly, contact her at nbeadles@gmu.edu

For more information, contact Anna Stolley Persky at apersky@gmu.edu

About George Mason
��AV is Virginia’s largest public research university. Located near Washington, D.C., Mason enrolls more than 38,000 students from 130 countries and all 50 states. Mason has grown rapidly over the past half-century and is recognized for its innovation and entrepreneurship, remarkable diversity and commitment to accessibility.

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Mason’s education policy center expanding research outreach to state and local partners

Colleen Rich — Thu, 10 Dec 2020 16:54:56 +0000

Mason’s education policy center expanding research outreach to state and local partners Colleen Rich Thu, 12/10/2020 - 11:54

��AV’s Center for Education Policy, rebranded in 2018 as EdPolicyForward, has been partnering with the Virginia Department of Education, school districts and other entities to help with research and gaining a better understand of gaps in learning, attendance and levels of achievement.

“With our wealth of expertise on educational policy issues, we have a lot to offer in terms of providing research and quantitative analysis,” said Matthew P. Steinberg, director of EdPolicyForward and an associate professor in the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD). The center includes more than a dozen affiliated faculty.

Steinberg recently partnered with Lauren Sartain, a faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to analyze data from Chicago Public Schools. They found that Chicago teacher performance benchmarks may be penalizing Black educators. The study, which Steinberg led, concludes that the classroom observation scores for Black teachers may be penalizing them for working in schools in communities serving low-income and educationally disadvantaged students.

In addition, EdPolicyForward recently came out with the results of its first research project partnering with the Virginia Department of Education. The report found that advanced math class enrollment for ninth-grade Black students and students who qualify for free or reduced lunches in Virginia public schools increased every year over a four-year span. However, the report also found that rural ninth-grade students were less likely to enroll in advanced math classes than urban students.

“We learned through this study that Virginia public schools have gotten better in providing access to advanced math courses,” said Samantha Viano, an assistant professor at CEHD who led the study. “This is important because attendance in advanced math courses is a good indicator of college and career readiness. On the other hand, in rural areas, we saw stagnation when it came to advanced math classes.”

Housed within the College of Education and Human Development, EdPolicyForward’s mission is to promote equity and improved educational outcomes for all students, preschool through college and beyond. EdPolicyForward says it connects research to policy and practice, developing and advancing effective and pragmatic solutions, as well as driving meaningful public discourse on closing achievement gaps in the educational system.

Steinberg hopes to see even more partnerships going forward with state and local entities, as well as education associations, in need of equity-focused research.

“We value the partnerships we have developed so far and are working to leverage our training and research capacity to help address issues that school districts throughout the country are facing,” said Steinberg.