January 2021 Newsletter
Dean Arum presents ways to transform higher education ​into more just, equitable environments
UCI School of Education Dean and Professor Richard Arum detailed three pragmatic ways in which higher education institutions can become more just, equitable places during a panel discussion, “Reimagining Higher Education,” presented by the Social Science Research Council and SAGE Publishing. All of the methods, Arum explained, can be accomplished in the next 10 years.
A New Chapter in Teaching
The shift to remote instruction created unprecedented challenges, with effects on teachers, students, parents, public and private school systems and institutions of higher learning that have yet to be fully determined. The UCI School of Education has responded in a variety of meaningful ways to help communities in Orange County and beyond move past these challenges.
Professors named among nation’s
most influential education scholars
UCI School of Education Dean and Professor Richard Arum and Distinguished Professor Greg Duncan were included on the annual RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings, which recognizes 200 university-based scholars in the U.S. who had the biggest influence on educational practice and policy in the past year.
Assistant Professor Emily Penner receives multiple honors
Assistant Professor Emily Penner was named one of ten finalists for the 2021 William T. Grant Scholars Program. Additionally, Penner received a 2020 Community Outcomes and Impact Award from the International Association for Research on Service-Learning & Community Engagement.
Doctoral students Sharin Jacob and Jennifer Renick awarded Public Impact Fellowships
Jacob and Renick are two of 14 UCI students to receive Public Impact Fellowships, which support graduate students whose research has the potential to "substantially impact the public sphere" and "significantly improve or enrich the lives of Californians and/or national and global communities."
Doctoral candidate receives dissertation award
The American Educational Research Association awarded Qing Zhang a 2021 AERA-NSF Grants Program Dissertation Award for her proposed dissertation research: "Addressing challenges to the scale-up of effective early childhood programs in the changing landscape of early childhood education."
Does "Brain Training" actually work?
Associate Professor Susanne Jaeggi and researcher Anja Pahor are leading an online citizen science project to assess whether exercises to improve memory and attention are valid — and if so, for whom. Learn more and sign up to participate today!
Prof. Conchas celebrates first-gen, Mexican-descent students, calls for better support in latest book
Professor Gilberto Q. Conchas's latest book, The Chicana/o/x Dream: Hope, Resistance, and Educational Success, explores college students’ use of various forms of cultural and social capital to power their academic achievement.
Dr. Warren presents at International Society for Technology in Education
Acacia Warren, single subject coordinator for the School’s MAT Program, presented "Anchored in Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice: PBL and STEAM for Everyone" at the ISTE Virtual Conference on November 29, 2020.
UCI Writing Project Summer Youth Program students win top film honors
Two Irvine junior high students won film festival awards for videos created in the UCI Writing Project's Summer Youth Program and the "Digital Storytelling" workshop. Recently, the UCI Writing Project began offering yearlong classes through its newly established Virtual Programs for Youth.
CFEP News
The Center for Educational Partnerships (CFEP) - a robust unit within the School of Education - creates collaborations that support student preparation for and success in higher education. The CFEP's programs support K-12 teacher and student development, transfer students, and UCI undergraduates from all majors. With the support of the CFEP, the School of Education is creating opportunities for students to achieve the American dream.
CFEP, School of Social Sciences join forces to increase access for
first-gen students
The collaboration – the Associate Deans for Access initiative – engages directly with first-gen students at local high schools in Orange and Los Angeles counties.
Telemundo spotlights GEAR UP's work supporting low-income students in online learning environments
The GEAR UP program prepares middle school and high school students in the Compton Unified School District for college access and success.
UPCOMING EVENTS
The Future of P-12 Education
FEBRUARY 26, 2021

Part of the UCI's "Stay @ Homecoming" celebration! Save the Date, RSVP available soon.

After a year that involved a global pandemic, nationwide school closures, remote instruction, and protests for racial equity, the role of education has never been more critical for the future of democracy. The pandemic heightened existing gaps and disparities and exposed a need to rethink how we design schools and instruction. As schools plan for post-pandemic classrooms, what will P-12 education look like and what should it aspire to accomplish? Our expert panel will share their hopes for education going forward, as well as the role of UCI’s School of Education in leading a new path forward for schools, teachers and communities.  
  • January 21 - OCEAN Community-Based Research Proseminar: ​Joint Work & Conjecture Mapping

  • January 25 - Brownbag Guest Speaker: Matthew Rafalow, Visiting Scholar, UC Berkeley Center for Science, Technology, Medicine & Society

  • January 26 - CRLP Admin PLC Leadership Series: A Focus on Equity and Closing the Gap for our Current Times

  • February 2 - Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Certificate Program Workshop (Tier 1)

  • February 3 - Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Certificate Program Workshop (Tier 2)

  • February 4 - OCEAN Community-Based Research Proseminar: Panel Discussion with OC Partners

  • February 8 - Dean's Speaker Series: Marina Bers, Professor and Chair, ​Department of Computer Science, Tufts University

  • February 18 - OCEAN Community-Based Research Proseminar: ​Community-Based Organizing Experiences & Strategies

  • February 22 - Brownbag Guest Speaker: James Huguley, Assistant Professor, ​Center on Race & Social Problems, University of Pittsburgh

  • February 23 - CRLP Admin PLC Leadership Series: A Focus on Equity and Closing the Gap for our Current Times



For more information on upcoming professional development opportunities,
please visit the UCI Teacher Academy.
RECENT EVENTS
Dean's Inclusion & Equity Speaker Series
featuring
Tyrone C. Howard
In the midst of COVID-19, the pervasiveness of racial inequities have become more pronounced. How do schools respond at this moment? What are the ramifications for this generation of students? In this talk, UCI alumnus and UCLA Professor Tyrone Howard will unpack some of the stark realities faced by students, families, and schools in this current moment, and discuss ways that education policy, practice and research can offer a formidable response.
A Talk with Teachers
featuring
Jeff Duncan-Andrade
On November 18, 2020, the UCI Teacher Academy hosted "A Talk with Teachers," featuring Jeff Duncan-Andrade, Professor of Latina/o Studies and Race and Resistance Studies at San Francisco State University. The event featured a Q&A discussion on how to foster humanizing pedagogical practices in the classroom both during and after remote instruction.
In the News
Assistant Professor Adriana Villavicencio in Pix 11: "Academic gap: Why Black students lag behind in schools and what's being done to fix it."

Third-grade teacher and alumna Laura Gómez (pictured, right) featured in OC Register's top 100 most influential.

Chancellor's Professor Emerita Deborah Lowe Vandell comments in APA Special Report: "2020 has highlighted serious systemic inequities in many spheres of our lives."

Associate Professor AnneMarie Conley: "Should You Let Go of Any Goals in the New Year?" in Greater Good Magazine
New Publications
Recent publications by our faculty, graduate students and alumni
Alumna Priyanka Agarwal (Ph.D. ’19): “Integrating Power to Advance the Study of Connective and Productive Disciplinary Engagement in Mathematics and Science” (chapter) in STEM and the Social Good: Forwarding Political and Ethical Perspectives in the Learning Sciences
Postdoctoral fellow Jacky Au, Associate Professor Susanne Jaeggi (pictured, right): "Post‐training stimulation of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex impairs working memory training performance" in Journal of Neuroscience Research

Alumna Tara Barnhart (Ph.D. ‘16): “Co-Innovating a Paradigm Shift from a Pandemic” in ResearchGate
 
Professor Gustavo Carlo: “Adolescents’ Prosocial Behaviors Through a Multidimensional and Multicultural Lens” in Child Development Perspectives

Professor Gustavo Carlo: “Direct and indirect relations between family conflict and youth's later behavioral outcomes” in Review of Social Development
 
Professor Gustavo Carlo: “The relations of White parents’ implicit racial attitudes to their children’s differential empathic concern toward White and Black victims” in Journal of Experimental Psychology

Professor Gustavo Carlo: “The roles of perspective taking, empathic concern, and prosocial moral reasoning in the self-reported prosocial behaviors of Filipino and Turkish young adults” in Journal of Cross-Cultural Research

Fourth-year doctoral student Edward Chen, fourth-year doctoral student Sirui Wan, Associate Professor Drew Bailey: “A multilevel meta-analysis on the causal effect of ANS training on symbolic math performance” in PsyArXiv
 
Doctoral candidate Taylor Gara: “Selection into, and academic benefits from, middle school dance elective courses among urban youth” in APA PsycNet

Doctoral candidate Taylor Gara, Distinguished Professor George Farkas, Professor Liane Brouillette: “Did consequential accountability policies decrease the share of visual and performing arts education in U.S. public secondary schools during the No Child Left Behind era?” in Arts Education Policy Review
 
Associate Professor Susanne Jaeggi: “'Learning to learn' as a new path for learning generalization in working memory: the case of action video game play” in Journal of Vision
 
Alumna Masha Jones (Ph.D. ’19), Associate Professor Susanne Jaeggi: “Individual Differences in Cognitive Training Research” (chapter) in Cognitive Training, An Overview of Features and Applications

Alumna Tarana Khan (Ph.D. ’19): “Re-imagining the Role of Families as Equal Partners in STEM Learning” in National Science Teaching Association – Connected Science Learning Journal
Professor Young-Suk Kim (pictured, left): “Influences of Individual, Text, and Assessment Factors on Text/Discourse Comprehension in Oral Language (Listening Comprehension)” in Annals of Dyslexia

Professor Young-Suk Kim: “Letter Features as Predictors of Letter-Name Acquisition in Four Languages with Three Scripts” in Scientific Studies of Reading
 
Alumnus Ryan W. Lewis (Ph.D. ’18), Associate Professor Drew Bailey: “Latent classes from complex assessments: What do they tell us?” in Learning and Individual Differences
 
Alumnus Alex Lin (Ph.D. ’14), Professor Sandra Simpkins: “Making the Decision to Participate in Organized After-School Activities: Perspectives From Mexican-Origin Adolescents and Their Parents” in Journal of Adolescent Research
 
Doctoral candidate Yangyang Liu, Chancellor’s Professor Emerita Deborah Lowe Vandell, Professor Sandra Simpkins: “The Role of Organized Activities in Supporting Youth Moral and Civic Character Development: A Review of the Literature” in Adolescent Research Review
 
Doctoral candidate Yangyang Liu, Chancellor’s Professor Emerita Deborah Lowe Vandell, Professor Sandra Simpkins: “Teachers, afterschool program staff, and mothers: Relationships with key adults and children’s adjustment in early elementary school” in Applied Developmental Science
 
Second-year doctoral student Joseph Montoya: “It's Just a Pipe Dream: Equitable Workforce Pathways for Silicon Valley” in Research Gate
 
Third-year doctoral student Ha Nguyen, Professor Rossella Santagata: “Impact of Computer Modeling on Learning and Teaching Systems Thinking” in Journal of Research in Science Teaching
 
Project Scientist Anja Pahor, Associate Professor Susanne Jaeggi: “Multisensory Facilitation of Working Memory Training” in Journal of Cognitive Enhancement
 
Fourth-year doctoral student Jennifer Renick, Professor Stephanie Reich: “Best friends, bad food, and bullying: How students’ school perceptions relate to sense of school belonging” in Journal of Community Psychology

Doctoral candidate Mishael Sedas, Assistant Professor Kylie Peppler: “Design Thinking and the Learning Sciences: Theoretical, Practical, and Empirical Perspectives” in Oxford Bibliographies
 
Professor Elizabeth van Es: “Expanding on Prior Conceptualizations of Teacher Noticing” in The International Journal on Mathematics Education
 
Professor Mark Warschauer (pictured, right), fourth-year doctoral student Sharin Jacob, third-year doctoral student Undraa Maamuujav: “Chapter 28: Online Englishes” in The Routledge Handbook of World Englishes
 
Second-year doctoral student Nickolina Yankova, Associate Professor Kylie Peppler: “#quiltsforpulse: Investigating Quilting Processes to Inform Community-Based Engagement” in International Society of Learning Sciences
 
Postdoctoral scholar Mark Vincent B. Yu, fifth-year doctoral student Stephanie Soto-Lara, Professor Sandra Simpkins: “Latinx Adolescents’ Peer Ethnic Discrimination in After-School Activities and Activity Experiences” in Journal of Youth Development
 
Postdoctoral researcher Ninger Zhou, third-year doctoral student Ha Nguyen, Research Affiliate Christian Fischer, Professor Emerita Debra Richardson, Professor Mark Warschauer: “High School Teachers’ Self-efficacy in Teaching Computer Science” in ACM Transactions on Computing Education
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