Early November 2015 e-Newsletter

Welcome to the Early November 2015 issue of our college newsletter. We hope that you had a great Halloween, and are excited and energized as we move into the final months of the Fall 2015 semester.

The 2015 Annual MDECOE Halloween Party and potluck was held on October 31st, and everyone had a wonderful time. See the website for pictures from the event to relive the fun. Thanks to everyone who attended and brought food.

October was a busy and fruitful month for our talented colleagues, so let's check out some of their accomplishments.

Steve Meija, graduate student in the School Counseling program in Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling and student of Dr. Tovah Sands, presented a research poster at the annual conference of the California Association of School Counselors, in Riverside, CA on November 8-9, 2015.

His research poster title was: Perceived Academic Support by Significant Others and Passage Rates in Ninth Grade English Class.

The purpose of his research study is to investigate how much enrolled tenth grade English class students perceive that their friends, teachers, mothers and fathers contribute to their academic success, while also comparing their ninth grade English class passage rates. A survey created specifically for this project will be administered to ninth-grade students at one public high school in Los Angeles.

Mr. Meija has begun data collection and plans to complete his research thesis for Spring 2016 graduation.

The Family Justice Center opened on October 15th.

"The Family Justice Center is a unique public/private partnership that houses multiple agencies under one roof to serve people of all ages who have experienced child maltreatment, domestic violence and sexual violence. The center’s partners include CSUN’s Strength United (formerly the Valley Trauma Center), Dignity Health Northridge Hospital Center for Assault Treatment Services (CATS), the Los Angeles Police Department, LA City Attorney’s Office, LA District Attorney’s Victim Assistance Program and Jewish Family Services’ Family Violence Project."

Read more at CSUN Today

The CTL hosted Karen Cator as part of their Education on the Edge series on October 13th. She spoke on "Closing the Digital Learning Gap."

Across the country are pockets of excellence in teaching and learning. Students are designing, coding, composing, animating, and publishing. Educators are engaging, motivating, and nuturing students to develop mindsets for lifelong learning. And yet, huge gaps exist between learning outcomes, graduation rates, and college readiness of students based on race, class, neighborhood, and available resources in the schools they attend. Karen Cator has dedicated Digital Promise, a nonprofit working to spur innovation in education to improve the opportunity to learn for all Americans, Karen will share her perspective on technology in learning and associated challenges, including the Digital Learning Gap.

“Students like to interact with their professors and we know that certain faculty members have more of an air of approachability than others do,” said Mark Stevens, faculty in Educational Counseling and Psychology. “Now, other faculty may be very much approachable but sometimes the students don’t know that.”

With student success as a campus-wide priority, conversation and discussion often revolves around the many ways we work together to empower our students. The ExCEL program, established at University Counseling Services, was introduced to the CSUN community in 2006 with the goal of helping students succeed.

Read more about Mark's work, and watch videos produced by ExCEL

ELPS is excited to be a co-sponsor for 10th Annual Liberation-Based Healing Conference "Challenging Inequities: Decolonizing Practices and Social Action" 2 Day Conference on November 13th-14th, 2015 hosted by the Masters in Social Work Program at CSUN. Please visit the website for important details regarding topics, panels, and keynote speakers.

View the event flyer

On Friday, October 9th, Steve Holle facilitated an Engineering is Elementary (EiE) workshop at CSUN for EED faculty and classroom teachers and administrators from Stanley Mosk, Emelita and Plummer elementary schools. EiE was developed by the museum to be an all-inclusive project-based program that incorporated research, evaluation, and assessment into every aspect of its cross-curricular design.

Read more about it and see pictures of the event

Strength United is proud to announce that they have been selected as an Official Charity Partner for the 2016 LA Marathon! They are inviting EVERYONE to consider becoming a charity athlete to help support our programming and the launch of the inaugural 2016 Strength United Team!

Learn more and join the team

Dr. Nancy Burstein and Dr. Sue Sears, Co-Directors, received a three-year grant (2015-2018) from the U.S. Department of Education, Teacher Quality Partnership Program (TQP) for $688,581. This project is designed to extend program evaluation activities of the project, A Teaching Residency Program in Special Education: Improving Achievement of Students with Disabilities in High-Need Schools, in which the Accelerated Collaborative Teacher Residency (ACT-R) Program was developed and implemented from 2010-2015. Specifically, funding will support the continued evaluation of the TQP Project, examining the effect of ACT-R on teacher recruitment, preparation, retention, and student achievement.

Adele Gottfried has a new publication:

Gottfried A.E. (2016). Intrinsic Motivation and Goals. In: Howard S. Friedman (Editor in Chief), Encyclopedia of Mental Health, 2nd edition, Vol 2, Waltham, MA: Academic Press, pp. 417-422.

The new national T-CARE Newsletter is available! Get tips for avoiding burnout, staying motivated, and learning new skills.

Check out the new T-CARE