Education ranks high, is readily visible
In state or out of state, the UO College of Education rocks.
Once again, according to the U.S. News&World Report's annual survey of top graduate schools in 2009-2010, the college's graduate program is the nation's best, and the college ranks fourth nationally overall. Special education programs rank third for the 10th consecutive year.
The college's innovations are in all 50 states, 10 U.S. jurisdictions and 18 countries. The College of Education hasn't overlooked its own backyard. Its reach is found in every Oregon school district.
That outreach also finds Native Americans. The Sapsik’walá grant project, funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Indian Education, helps American Indians and Alaska Natives become educators. The goal is to prepare teachers from these populations to deliver long-term, much-needed improvements in the educational experiences of the young people they teach.
The project was built in partnership with the nine federally recognized tribes of the state of Oregon: Burns Paiute Tribe; Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians; Coquille Indian Tribe; Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians; Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde; the Klamath Tribes (Klamath, Modoc, and Yahooskin); Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon; Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla Tribes); and Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation.
In exchange for teaching in the targeted districts, participants receive tuition and fees, a monthly stipend and book allowance, as well as admissions and advising support. The project also provides support services for a full year after its graduates begin teaching.
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It's hardly news that schoolchildren forget some of what they learn once summer vacation arrives. But did you know that the "summer slide" actually hits kids from disadvantaged backgrounds more harshly?
Two education researchers -- Keith Zvoch and Joseph Stevens of the department of educational methodology, policy and leadership -- are studying methods for closing the gap, which widens with each summer recess.
"Summer school is one approach used by school leaders to help narrow the achievement gap … and otherwise keep students progressing toward proficiency in subjects such as reading and math," Zvoch says. “Some districts offer a summer school program that operates more like day care.”
The Bethel School District in northwest Eugene offers an academically focused, intensive literacy intervention for struggling readers. "They’ve been doing this program for a while and are like a well-oiled machine, with a laser focus on providing need-based literacy instruction to students during the four day per week, 3.5-hour summer session," Zvoch noted.
Preliminary results are raising eyebrows. Students who have participated in the summer program have gained an average of 10 words per minute in oral reading fluency. Peers who also qualified but did not attend lost an average of two words per minute during the same period.
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The grand opening of the UO's new education complex took place June 11, on the plaza of the new HEDCO Education Building (shown on this page).
