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College of Education Faculty
Fouad Abd El Khalick
Associate Professor
My past interests include investigating science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge, and global and specific subject matter structures, and the use of concept maps as learning and assessment tools. My research focuses on the teaching and learning about nature of science (NOS) in grades K-12, and in preservice and inservice science teacher education settings.more information...
Kern Alexander
Excellence Professor
Kern Alexander’s current research interests include education finance and law. He has worked extensively as an expert in state school finance litigation. He is the Editor of the Journal of Education Finance and has recently completed a major revision of his widely-used graduate text, American Public School Law. Having served as president of two public universities, Alexander has an ongoing research interest in high education administrating, finance, and law.more information...
Carolyn Anderson
Professor
Measurements in the social and behavioral sciences are often discrete (e.g., highest degree earned, response option selected on a survey or test, career choice). My research lies at the intersection of statistical models for multivariate discrete data and psychometrics. My current focus is on models with latent variable interpretations, including item response theory models, discrete choice models, and their formulations as generalized linear and non-linear (mixed) models (i.e., HLM, and GLMMS).more information...
James D. Anderson
Head / Gutgsell Professor
James D. Anderson (Ph.D. Illinois), is the author of The Education of Blacks in the South, 1860-1935, which received the Outstanding Book Award of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). His most current work is the forthcoming No Sacrifice Too Great: The History of African American Education from Slavery to the Twenty-First Century. He received the Distinguished Career Contributions Award from AERA’s Committee on Scholars of Color in Education. He served as advisor to and participant in the PBS documentaries “School” 2001), and “The Percy Julian Story” (2007). He is the Senior Editor of the History of Education Quarterly. In 2008 he was elected to the National Academy of Education.more information...
Richard Anderson
Professor
I currently have two active programs of research. The first is comparative analysis of learning to read alphabetic and nonalphabetic languages, especially English and Chinese. The second examines children's intellectual and social development in the context of free-flowing open-format discussions.more information...
Thomas Anderson
Professor Emeritus
My past research has focused on how children learn to read and study expository text, especially science text. I am currently investigating the techniques, especially peer mediation, that students and teacher can use to resolve interpersonal and intragroup conflict in the school setting. My goal is to develop and implement and evaluate the effects of a "peaceable" school, e.g., one that is eager to get beyond the restrictions of a discipline system which emphasizes punishment and various other sanctions.more information...
Steven Aragon
Associate Professor
My research interests include teaching and learning models for minorities and non-traditional students; secondary to post-secondary transition models; professional development of community college faculty and staff; use of evaluation.more information...
Lorenzo Baber
Assistant Professor
Lorenzo Baber’s primary research agenda focuses on the impact of socioeconomic background and ethnicity on identity development and academic outcomes for postsecondary students. He is particularly interested in investigating the persistent educational achievement gap between minority and majority students at Predominately White Institutions. Additional research interests include examination of university-neighborhood partnership initiatives in urban communities and international comparative education.more information...
Arthur Baroody
Professor Emeritus
Art Baroody is a Professor of Curriculum & Instruction (early childhood and elementary mathematics education) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on the teaching and learning of basic counting, number, and arithmetic concepts and skills by young children and those with learning problems. Grants: Spencer Foundation (“Key Transitions in Preschoolers’ Number and Arithmetic Development; 7/03–12/09), National Institutes of Health (“Computer-guided Comprehensive Mathematics Assessment for Young Children”; 10/05–9/10), and the U.S. Dept. of Education (“Developing an Intervention to Foster Early Number Sense and Skill”; 6/05–6/09); and “Fostering Fluency with Basic Addition and Subtraction”; 7/08–6/12).more information...
Eurydice Bouchereau Bauer
Associate Professor
My research projects focus on alternative literacy assessment, biliteracy development, and preservice education. Specifically, I have researched critical inquiry pedagogy for examining diversity in the teaching of undergraduate and graduate courses, emergent literacy development across two languages, and the literacy and assessment development of elementary students (preschool to grade 5) from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds.more information...
Tina (A.C.) Besley
Research Professor
My research interests include educational policy and philosophy, especially Michel Foucault’s work on self/subjectivity and governmentality; the knowledge economy, creativity and academic entrepreneurship; assessing research quality in Higher Education; and youth issues, especially self and identity in a globalised world where the impact of new social media is now becoming apparent. I am interested in narrative approaches in research and counseling. I am on the editorial boards of seven journals and three book series and have published five books including Subjectivity and Truth: Foucault, Education and the Culture of the Self ( Peter Lang, 2007) with Michael A. Peters.more information...
Jon Bowermaster
Clinical Assistant Professor
Professional Experience University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: 2002 to Present Department of Human Resource Education Clinical Assistant Professor Teach graduate and undergraduate courses in leadership development, management, strategic planning and project management. Physician Empowerment, Urbana, Illinois: 2002 to Present Managing Partner A national consulting firm focused on helping physicians develop their leadership and management skills.more information...
Debra Bragg
Professor
Debra Bragg’s research focuses on transition to college by youth and adults, especially student populations that have not attended college historically. She is particularly interested in how underserved youth and adult students (minority, low income, first-generation, immigrant students) use the community college to transition to higher education, including how public policies position community colleges as a primary port of entry. The expanding mission of community colleges, including the increasing importance of linkages to high schools, adult education, postsecondary education and the workforce is of particular interest. Her work is affiliated with the Office of Community College Research and Leadership (OCCRL)more information...
Liora Bresler
Professor
Liora Bresler's current program of research centers on arts education (music, visual art, dance, and drama) in both formal (K-12 schools) and informal settings. Her current project, in the US and internationally, is an inter-disciplinary project at the intersection of performing arts studies, aesthetics, anthropology, and education, focusing on educational and aesthetic values of arts centers and the experiential learning they provoke and inspire. An recent area of interest is intellectual and social entrepreneurship across disciplines in academe.more information...
David Brown
Associate Professor
David Brown’s research focuses on the dynamics of instructional interactions in science. This research focus is informed by a complex dynamic systems perspective on the various dynamics involved with instructional interactions, including social, affective, and particularly conceptual dynamics. Instructional contexts include classroom instruction, tutoring, and technology assisted instruction. A current focus draws on this theoretical perspective in the design of online instructional environments.more information...
Ruth Brown
Assistant Professor
Dr. Ruth Nicole Brown is a dynamic writer, researcher, performer, mentor and instructor. She is an assistant professor in the Gender and Women’s Studies and Educational Policy Studies Departments at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. Her research documents, analyzes, and interrogates Black girls’ lived experiences as it intersects with cultural constructions of Black girlhood. More specifically, Dr.more information...
Bertram Bruce
Professor
I'm a professor of Library and Information Science, Curriculum & Instruction, Bioengineering, Writing Studies, and the Center for East Asian & Pacific Studies. My central interest is in learning —the constructive process whereby individuals and organizations develop as they adapt to new circumstances. This work draws on ideas such as John Dewey's theory of inquiry as well as on action research and situated studies. Much of it has focused on changes in the nature of knowledge, community, and literacy, as discussed in my new book, Literacy in the information age: Inquiries into meaning making with new technologies and other recent writing.more information...
Lydia Buki
Associate Professor, Kinesiology & Community Health
My research interests are diverse, and are generally concentrated on breast and cervical cancer issues that Latina women face in the United States. The approach that I take to my work is developmental, and I use the research tools that are most appropriate to answer the research questions (i.e., quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methodologies). I am currently examining: (a) barriers to early detection of breast cancer in Latina immigrant women, (b) factors that are likely to enhance early detection behaviors in this group of women, and (c) mental health needs of Latina women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. I intend to maintain these research foci in the coming years.more information...
Nicholas Burbules
Professor
My research focuses on philosophy of education; teaching and dialogue; critical social and political theory; and technology and education. My major current projects include work on ethical and policy issues concerning new technologies in education; virtual reality; collaboration; and dialogue and "third spaces.more information...
Timothy Reese Cain
Assistant Professor
Tim Cain’s research examines academic freedom, student speech, unionization in higher education, and related issues. His current projects include studies of the failed attempts to organize college instructors and professors in the years after World War I and an investigation into the lasting consequences of politically-motivated faculty dismissals.more information...
Janis Chadsey
Professor Emeritus
I am concerned with the social integration experienced by youth and young adults as they make their transition from school to adulthood. Through the Transition Research Institute, I have studied the social interactions and relationships experienced by youths in both school and employment settings; have conducted research designed to teach social skills; and have studied the meaning of social integration from the perspective of youths themselves. In addition to this research, I have conducted research studying practices that facilitate spontaneous communication and expand pragmatic functions of learners with low incidence disabilities. I am actively involved in our teacher certification program.more information...
Hua-hua Chang
Professor
My current research focuses on both theoretical development and applications of item response theory (IRT). These include computer-based assessment, automated test assembly (ATA), differential item functioning (DIF), cognitive diagnostic measurement, and patients reported outcome. Today one of the main challenges in Educational Measurement is to develop theories and methods for the new mode of large scale implementation of computerized assessment. More recently I have been concentrating on developing item selection methods for computerized adaptive testing (CAT). Several new methods have been developed, such as the a-stratified method, the global information method, and the constraint weighted information (CWI) method.more information...
Kiel Christianson
Assistant Professor
Kiel Christianson's research focuses on language comprehension and production. Specifically, he's interested in how people arrive at interpretations of language input, especially when those interpretations are not consistent with the input (i.e., misinterpretations) but still might be "good enough" for normal communication. This research is being extended to non-native speakers, aphasic speakers, and specialized content areas, such as math/physics word problems (STEM). He is also conducting research in bilingual sentence processing and production, visual word recognition and reading, and psycholinguistics in several other languages.more information...
Jeanne Connell
Assistant Professor
My current research interests focus philosophy of education, particularly how the American pragmatic philosophy of John Dewey influences views about knowledge, learning, and teaching. In my recent articles, I analyzed the connection between pragmatic philosophy and the literary theory of Louise Rosenblatt, who was a pioneer in developing what is known in the field of reading as reader-response-theory. I explored how these diverse disciplines inform one another in order to enhance democratic education. My current projects focus on philosophy of education, transaction-based literary theory, as well as the teaching of social foundations of education to pre-service teachers.more information...
William Cope
Research Professor
My current research interests include population and community diversity, theories and practices of pedagogy and new technologies of representation and communication, including the 'semantic web'.more information...
Denise Crews
Clinical Assistant Professor
Dr. Crews’ current research interests surround higher education access and community college student patterns of success. Included under this research umbrella are community college transitional programs which promote college readiness for academic core courses, and the interventions and curriculum alignment models utilized to facilitate college success.more information...
Michele Crockett
Assistant Professor
Michele Crockett’s research includes issues of education policy, school reform, and institutional contexts, especially as these issues relate to teachers’ professional learning for improving mathematics instruction and achievement at underperforming schools. Presently, she seeks to understand how formative assessment practices in teachers’ mathematics instruction can directly improve students’ deep mathematical understandings and the implications for refocusing school-based professional development efforts.more information...
Gary Cziko
Professor Emeritus
My past research has focused on first and second language acquisition, language assessment, bilingual education, research methods, and the application of evolutionary theory and perceptual control theory to understanding human behavior, learning and education. I am currently focusing my research activities on what I call Autonomous Technology-Assisted Language Learning (ATALL). ATALL involves using and developing technology, in particular Internet media and communication tools, to enhance education in foreign-languages and cultures.more information...
Antonia Darder
Professor
Over the years, my scholarship has focused on comparative studies of structural inequalities as these manifest within a variety of schooling and societal context. More recently, my research has turned toward examinations of culture and identity in a transnational context, issues of the body related to teaching and learning, and questions of Puerto Rican feminism and consciousness. My teaching examines cultural issues, racism, and class inequalities within education, with an emphasis on identity, language, and popular culture, as well as the foundations of critical pedagogy, Latino studies, and social justice theory. I am the author of Culture and Power in the Classroom (Bergin & Garvey, 1991)more information...
Christina DeNicolo
Assistant Professor
My broad research interests include equity and the literacy education of culturally and linguistically diverse students, biliteracy in multilingual classrooms, and student use of cultural and linguistic resources in language arts classrooms. An additional focus of mine is the development of cross-cultural understandings by teachers and students in multicultural settings. Currently, I am interested in the influence of teacher ideology on literacy instruction in schools experiencing an increase in bilingual and multilingual students. My goal is to develop an understanding of why some teachers embrace the opportunity to work with bilingual students and others do not.more information...
Lizanne DeStefano
Professor
I am interested in evaluation of large scale, multi-site initiatives, especially those involving special populations such as very young children and their families, students with disabilities, and members of traditionally underrepresented groups. My research has focused on the use of participatory designs and qualitative and quantitative methods in these large complex projects. I am also interested in technical and policy issues surrounding the inclusion of students with diverse educational needs in assessment based accountability initiatives.more information...
Pradeep Dhillon
Associate Professor
My research straddles philosophy of language (both Analytic and Continental) and mind, aesthetics, and international education. I have a strong interest in Kantian value theory as it relates to aesthetics,cognition,and human rights education. Currently, I am working in the areas of Kant's theory of judgement and Neuro-aesthetics, Neurophilosophy,and Education, and Environmental Aesthetics.I am the Editor for the Journal of Aesthetic Education, and serve as the Chair of Education for the American Society for Aesthetics.more information...
Mark Dressman
Associate Professor
My research investigates the underlying cultural, philosophical, economic, and historical assumptions that shape research and practice in the teaching of literacy across a wide range of textual modes. The goal of this research is to refine and improve current practice in language and literacy curriculum and teaching. Currently, I am working on two projects. One is a study of the teaching of poetry in U.S. secondary schools from the early twentieth century to the present.more information...
Stacy Dymond
Associate Professor
My research interests focus on curriculum and instruction for students with significant cognitive disabilities in inclusive school and community settings. I am particularly interested in the use of service learning as a form of pedagogy for promoting access to academics and life skills curriculum.more information...
Anne Haas Dyson
Professor
My research focuses on language and literacy development in the early childhood years. By literacy, I do not mean simply children's handwriting and spelling; I mean children's use of print to represent their ideas and to interact with other people. I use qualitative and sociolinguistic research procedures to examine written language use from children's points of view--from within their own social lives. I have aimed to situate children's literacy development within the social and ideological complexity of urban schools and contemporary times.more information...
Dorothy Espelage
Professor
The foci of my scholarship at UIUC have included investigations of several health-related behaviors, including bullying and youth aggression, disordered eating in adolescents and young adults, and psychosocial adjustment of families of children managing chronic illness. The majority of my energy is spent on my first two programs bullying during early adolescence and eating disorders. Within the last few years, both of these programs have evolved into the study of these health behaviors during early adolescence and both have included examination of the influences of the peer group on their maintenance. I also work with graduate students with research interests in childhood sexual abuse and dating violence.more information...
Helen Farmer
Professor Emeritus
Working with her research team, Helen Farmer has focused her research on investigating why women contribute less to the arts and sciences than men. The model developed to investigate this topic is a shift away from models that propose that internal psychological and biological factors are the cause of women’s lesser contributions in these areas. Instead, they investigated the contribution of external factors that women and men experience growing up as well as psychological and biological factors. Experiences in the family, community, and the school all are predicted to affect women’s motivation to contribute to society.more information...
Walter Feinberg
Professor Emeritus
My research centers on the issue of education for democratic citizenship. I believe that democracy is not an automatically self-renewing process but it that is requires conscious collective attention and deliberate educational and cultural work. Hence all of my research projects, from my studies of multiculturalism, to my examination of the justification for affirmative action, to my exploration of religious education, to my evaluation of the idea of school choice, are intended to understand the relationship between education and democracy and to find ways to enhance what I believe to be our most valuable inheritance.more information...
Tweety Felner
Research Assistant Professor
Tweety Yates' research interests include parent-child interaction and personnel development issues in early childhood. She is currently evaluating the validity and feasibility of a parent-child relationship-based model of early intervention in culturally and geographically diverse settings. She is also involved in training, outreach, and evaluation of a story-based creative arts curriculum derived from a variety of cultural and ethnic traditions designed to promote child learning and early literacy skills.more information...
Priscilla Fortier
Adjunct Assistant Professor
My primary research interest is in higher education history, particularly issues of access within the traditional, as well as the evolving, mission of land grant institutions. The opportunity to compete for viable access to selective public institutions such as land grant universities is an aspect of the "public good" that is embedded within the mission of such institutions. In a related area, I believe that large public research institutions provide an ideal venue for facilitating undergraduate research. ;Every fall since 2004 have taught an undergraduate Ethnography of the University course in which students increased their engagement with, and knowledge of, this institution by conducting research on the university.more information...
Susan Fowler
Professor
Susan Fowler is active in research related to families of young children with developmental delays and issues involving access to early care and education. She involves graduate students in her research and scholarship. Recent studies with graduate students have included survey and analysis of early care and education providers with a focus on ECSE teachers; involvement of families in story book reading routines with children at risk for school problems and assessment of family supports in helping children with developmental delays develop friendships. She receives funding for her work from state and federal agencies.more information...
James Frasier
Clinical Assistant Professor
Jim Frasier’s ongoing program of research focuses on US government and private sector HRD policies and programs that specifically address the transition of individuals to knowledge-intensive employment, education, and training environments. An underlining theme of Jim’s investigations has been to inform US public and private sector policy formation with data relevant to investing in the retraining of individuals with disabilities for employment within Information Age work environments. Most recently, Jim's investigations have focused on cultural factors that influence the formation of multinational corporations’ HR practices as they expand manufacturing operations into Southeast Asian countries and China.more information...
Janet Gaffney
Professor
Janet S. Gaffney is a professor in the Department of Special Education with affiliate appointments in the Departments of Educational Psychology and Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Her research focuses on developing teachers' expertise to facilitate the independent literacy learning of children and youth with and without disabilities who are not making adequate progress. She works collaboratively with district partners to design organic, high-impact, system-wide, long-term, professional development opportunities that lead to documented and sustainable literacy outcomes for children.more information...
Georgia Earnest Garcia
Professor
My past research projects have focused on the literacy instruction, assessment, and development of students (preschool-8) from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, with a special interest in bilingual students' reading. My current research interests include investigating cross-linguistic transfer in bilingual students' reading and writing (Spanish-English speakers and Chinese-English speakers), the literacy engagement and motivation of bilingual students, and the use of new forms of literacy assessments with students from diverse backgrounds. I also am interested in studying how assessment and instructional reform efforts affect the reading instruction and performance of students from diverse backgrounds.more information...
Gloriana González
Assistant Professor
Gloriana González's research focuses on how teachers manage students' prior knowledge. She is interested in examining teachers' decision-making when handling students' prior knowledge and the rationality underlying those decisions.more information...
Jennifer Greene
Professor
Jennifer’s research interests focus on the intersections of social science and social policy. Her work in the domain of educational and social program evaluation seeks to advance the theory and practice of alternative forms of evaluation, including qualitative, democratic, and mixed methods evaluation approaches. Current work emphasizes evaluation as a venue for democratizing dialogue about critical social and educational issues, with a focus on conceptualizing evaluation as a "public good.more information...
Rochelle Gutierrez
Associate Professor
Dr. Rochelle Gutierrez' scholarship focuses on equity issues in mathematics education, paying particular attention to how race, class, and language affect teaching and learning. Through in-depth analyses of effective teaching/learning communities and longitudinal studies of developing teachers, her work challenges deficit views of Latina/o and African American students. Her current research projects focus upon: developing in pre-service teachers the knowledge and disposition to teach powerful mathematics to urban students; the role of uncertainty and "Nepantla" as it relates to teaching; and teacher community and secondary mathematics teaching in México, for which she received a Fulbright fellowship.more information...
Donald G. Hackmann
Associate Professor and Interim Head
Don Hackmann’s primary research agenda focuses on leadership preparation programming, including program quality, standards-based curricula, and characteristics of tenure-line and clinical educational leadership faculty members. An additional research interest addresses the principalship, focusing on effective leadership behaviors and strategies at the middle and high school levels that facilitate improved student learning, including effective supervisory approaches and the development of effective scheduling models.more information...
James Halle
Professor
For more than 20 years I have been involved in research related to communication and language development of children with disabilities. This program of research has focused on examining both social communication of young children with significant intellectual disability, and the ecological factors that facilitate and discourage communicative growth. I have also worked on developing interventions to encourage more effective and efficient communication by these children. Recent projects include assessing current dictionaries of prelinguistic forms used by children with severe disabilities to communicate and the functions (e.g., request, protest, comment) these forms serve for the children.more information...
Violet Harris
Professor
I maintain active interest and conduct research in the areas of children's literature, multicultural children's literature, children's book publishing, the historic development of African American literacy, and the creation of literacy materials created specifically for African Americans. More broadly, I am interested in literacy, socio-cultural influences on literacy and schooling, and teacher education. Currently, I am working on a content analysis of historic literacy materials for African American children and monitoring two trends in children's literature: biracial/multiracial children and religion.more information...
Robert Henderson
Professor Emeritus
Professor Henderson’s research activities during his 50 years at Illinois cover four areas: prevention of brain damage by early detection and dietary treatment of inborn errors of metabolism, especially Phenylketonuria (PKU); effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery systems for students with disabilities; equity in financing special education programs in the USA and Canada; comparative evaluation of service delivery systems worldwide. He serves on the editorial board of several USA and international professional journals in Special Education.more information...
Nancy Hertzog
Associate Professor
At the core of my research program is the question, "In what ways can teachers challenge all children in inclusive elementary classrooms?" This question ties two thrusts of my research program together: interest in instructional strategies that challenge all children; and interest in gifted programming practices. Beginning with my introduction into research methodology, I have been approaching this broad research question systematically by looking at instructional practices which have typically been designed for students regarded as gifted, and I have been examining the impact and perspectives of gifted programming practices from the students and families who have been involved in them.more information...
Christopher Higgins
Assistant Professor
My scholarly interests fall into two main areas: philosophy of teaching and the aims of education. My work in the first area concerns teacher motivation and identity, transformative dialogue and the teacher-student relationship, as well as teacher education and professional development. My book, The Good Life of Teaching: Toward a Virtue Ethics for Teachers (Wiley-Blackwell, forthcoming), offers a eudaimonistic conception of professional ethics, examining how work contributes to the practitioner's own quest to lead a rich, meaningful, or excellent life.more information...
Denice Hood
Assistant Professor
My current research interests include issues of teaching and learning in online postsecondary learning environments. Specifically, I am interested in the intersection between adult learning, cognitive and social factors that contribute to academic success, cultural aspects of pedagogy and the policy implications. more information...
Wen-Hao Huang
Assistant Professor
W. David Huang’s academic background, consisting of material science & engineering, educational technology, and executive business administration, has enabled him to conduct interdisciplinary projects for instructional and research purposes for years. Dr. Huang currently teaches Learning Technologies and Instructional Design for HRE with an interactive approach. His research interests include (1) design of serious games and workforce development, (2) cognitive load manipulations in E-Learning settings, and (3) development of entrepreneurship education. David is also co-coordinating and co-developing HRE’s MSEd program in E-Learning (delivered by University of Illinois Global Campus) with Dr. Scott Johnson since June 2007.more information...
Barbara Hug
Clinical Assistant Professor
My research focuses on developing and using curriculum materials that support inquiry learning in science. There exists a need to develop curriculum materials that help public school teachers and students meet key learning goals aligned with national standards focusing on inquiry as an instructional strategy. Much of my work to date has addressed this need by working on developing materials that allow students to engage in such extended inquiry investigations. I then examine the use of these materials in the context of middle school classrooms.more information...
Richard Hunter
Professor
Richard Hunter is known for his extensive public school administrative experience in public education and for his academic research on topics in urban education, while teaching at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.more information...
Scott Johnson
Professor
Scott Johnson’s current program of research explores ways to improve the quality and effectiveness of instruction. His primary research has examined the cognitive process differences that enable experts to solve technical problems more efficiently than novices. Recent studies have explored various aspects of online learning and factors that support the development of effective virtual teams. He has also been involved in studies to identify strategies that enhance technology transfer. The ultimate goal of his research is to develop new understanding of learning processes so that more effective instructional designs and strategies can be developed to improve technical instruction.more information...
Marilyn Johnston-Parsons
Professor
Dr. Parson’s current research interests include educational reform related to teacher education and social studies education particularly related to issues of social justice and diversity. She is also interested in collaborative research methodologies, urban education, and action/teacher research and self-study. Recently Dr. Parsons published a book with teachers from a mid-western urban school which describes the ways in which learning successes happen daily in a school that is labeled "failing" by its test scores. She is currently working on a research project in an urban Chicago school working collaboratively with teachers to integrated social studies and content area writing.more information...
Mary Kalantzis
Professor
Dean of the College of Education and Professor of Education, Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Illinios. Adjunct professor at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, attached to the Globailsm Institute and Research Director of the Knowledge Design Forum. With Bill Cope, co-author of: The Powers of Literacy, Falmer Press, London, 1993, Productive Diversity, Pluto Press, Sydney, 1997; A Place in the Sun: Re-Creating the Australian Way of Life, Harper Collins, Sydney, 2000; Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures, Routledge, London, 2000; and Learning by Design, Victorian Schools Innovation Commission, Melbourne, 2005.more information...
Lilian Katz
Professor Emeritus
My past research has focused on developmental stages of teachers; mixed-age grouping; teacher-parent relations; teacher education; self-esteem vs. narcissism; gender differences and pedagogy; and dispositions, their development and assessment. My current research projects include project approach implementation and issues in mixed-age grouping.more information...
Russell Korte
Assistant Professor
My interests include investigating and understanding the social dynamics of learning and working in organizations. Recently, I have been studying the socialization experiences of newly hired engineers; specifically how they learned the social norms, that is, the unwritten rules of the organizations they joined. Related to this I have conducted research with the Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education (CAEE). This work entailed studying the experiences of engineering students as they learned their profession in school. Both of these streams of research indicate the primacy of the social system in forming workers’ and students’ knowledge and practices.more information...
Brad Kose
Assistant Professor
Brad Kose’s research investigates how transformative principal leadership and teacher professional development influence and impact teaching practices and equitable student outcomes through qualitative and quantitative studies. Dr. Kose’s research helps illuminate how school principals can provide high-quality teacher learning opportunities for improving all students’—and especially traditionally marginalized students’—academic, social-emotional, multicultural, and citizenship development. This research suggests that contemporary theories often overlook the principal’s important role in supporting teachers’ social identity development and capacity for working with diverse students.more information...
K. Peter Kuchinke
Associate Professor
Professor Kuchinke's current research focuses on two areas: The education and training of educators working in human resource development settings in for-profit and not-for-profit organizations around the world as these professional lead learning initiatives to foster organizational and individual growth and development. Professor Kuchinke further explores the changing meaning of working as technological, economic, political, and social forces bring unprecedented rates of change to individuals, families, organizations, and countries. In both research areas, Professor Kuchinke is published widely and is a sought-after lecturer and presenter at national and international conferences and universities and organizations around the world.more information...
Christopher Lubienski
Associate Professor
Chris Lubienski's research centers on public and private interests in education, including the use of market mechanisms such as choice and competition to improve schooling, especially for disadvantaged children. His work examines reforms and movements such as vouchers, charter schools, tuition tax credits, and home schooling that seek to decentralize and deregulate educational governance. He focuses on outcomes anticipated by reformers in areas such as increased innovation and higher levels of achievement, exploring the frequent disconnect between research findings and policy advocacy. He is currently investigating the organizational behavior of schools and districts in local education markets in metropolitan areas.more information...
Sarah Lubienski
Associate Professor
Dr. Sarah Lubienski's scholarship centers around intersections of education and equity, focusing on mathematics achievement, instruction, and reform. Through quantitative studies of NAEP and ECLS-K data, as well as qualitative studies of classrooms, she examines inequities in diverse students' mathematics learning experiences and outcomes. Dr. Lubienski has served as the chairperson of both AERA's NAEP Studies SIG and the Editorial Panel for the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. She currently co-directs an Illinois Math-Science Partnership and was recently awarded IES funding for a study on gender, race/ethnicity, and SES in ECLS-K mathematics data.more information...
Cris Mayo
Associate Professor
Cris Mayo's research interests include philosophy of education, gender and sexuality studies, and multicultural theory. Her book, Disputing the Subject of Sex (Rowman and Littlefield, 2004, reprinted in paperback, 2007) details clashes over AIDS education and gay inclusive multicultural education in New York State in the 1980's and 1990's. She is currently researching gay/straight alliances in public schools and their work in the formation of associational identities, examining how such groups organize around and address differences of race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, and sexuality.more information...
Sarah McCarthey
Professor
Sarah McCarthey's research focuses on teachers' writing instruction within current policy contexts such as NCLB. Sarah has explored teachers' integration of writing in their science instruction with Margery Osborne and local teachers. Her work with Georgia Garcia in understanding English language learners' writing practices has contributed to the national dialogue on literacy instruction. As co-editor (with Mark Dressman and Paul Prior) of Research in the Teaching of English, Sarah has been in the forefront of publishing outstanding literacy research. Her leadership in the University of Illinois Writing Project has linked the College of Education with local schools, Writing Studies, and the National Writing Project.more information...
Erica McClure
Professor Emeritus
My research has had three foci: children's acquisition of English and Spanish, reading, and conversational codeswitching (Romanian-Saxon, Spanish-English, Bulgarian-English and Romanian-Bulgarian). My current projects include content analysis and grammatical analysis of children's stories written in English and Spanish, the description of Romanian-Bulgarian codeswitching, the description of Assyrian-English codeswitching, the description of the role of the maintenance of Assyrian language skills in the maintenance of Assyrian ethnic identity.more information...
Jeanette McCollum
Professor Emeritus
My research interests have led me into three separate but interrelated areas of study,: (a) social interaction between infants with disabilities and their caregivers and the implications of these interactions for the infant's optimal development: (b) policy issues related to personnel working with infants with disabilities and their families, and (c) professional development related to assisting practicing early childhood teachers to upgrade their skills in emergent literacy teaching. I have conducted several studies describing the work roles and professional qualifications of early intervention personnel.more information...
George McConkie
Professor Emeritus
Past research has focused on understanding the real-time processes involved in reading and picture perception. This work has mainly been conducted using research methods based on the recording of eye movements. My current research includes the following projects: 1. Cognition and Eye Movement Control during Reading. (UIUC Research Board grant). The goal of this project is to understand how cognitive processes influence eye behavior, so that eye movement data can be used more effectively in the study of cognition. 2. NSF-ITR: Multimodal Human Computer Interaction: Toward a Proactive Computer. (Tom Huang and McConkie, co-PI's) An interdisciplinary project (6 faculty members)more information...
Jose Mestre
Professor
I am interested in how people learn and solve problems in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines. I work at the interface of science learning and cognitive science (e.g., visual cognition, reading comprehension, nature of expertise, transfer of learning). Using techniques common in cognitive science (e.g., eye-tracking, reading speed) but heretofore not used to study science learning, I am attempting to learn details about how both experts and novices store, retrieve and apply knowledge. Ongoing investigations include explorations of the role of misconceptions in comprehending scientific text, visual processing of diagrams in problems, and conceptual problem solving.more information...
Karla Moller
Clinical Associate Professor
My interests are focused on literacy education at the elementary level, specifically in the areas of multiethnic and multicultural literature. My most recent research is on heterogeneous grouping, literature discussion groups, conceptualizations of struggling and capability with regards to literacy events, and engagement and dialogue of children, pre-service, and in-service teachers related to reading culturally diverse literature with social justice themes. I am also involved in working with local area teachers to create support structures for pre-service and in-service teachers who are seeking to expand their learning.more information...
Bekisizwe Ndimande
Assistant Professor
Bekisizwe Ndimande's research interests include the politics of curriculum and examining the policies and practices in post-apartheid desegregated public schools and the implications of school "choice" for disadvantaged communities. His current research on these issues also provides a comparative analysis between the United States and post-apartheid South Africa.more information...
Helen Neville
Professor
Historically, my research interests have focused on three interrelated areas: general and cultural factors influencing stress and coping processes, evaluation of the effectiveness of diversity-related programs, and multicultural education. My research in the first area has centered on examining general and cultural factors influencing rape survivors, post-assault recovery process and African American students' psychosocial and educational adjustment to predominantly white universities. I am particularly interested in understanding common experiences that transcend race, ethnicity, and class background in adjusting to stressful events, as well as teasing out the more culture-specific factors related to this adjustment.more information...
Susan Noffke
Associate Professor
I have done historical/conceptual work in social studies as well as some analysis of my own practice as a social studies teacher educator, both of these with a particular eye toward issues of anti-racist education. I have recently completed a number of publications reflecting these broad research interests. A natural outgrowth of both the conceptual and field studies has been on the need for a more adequate framework for curriculum history and curriculum development (including that for teacher education) to reflect the diverse segment of American education.more information...
John Ory
Professor
John Ory is the director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at UIUC. His work at the Center involves conducting research on teaching, improving campus instruction, measuring student achievement, and evaluating programs. He is currently coordinating campus efforts to assess student outcomes and helping the campus prepare for its re-accreditation in 2009. In addition to his work on campus, John has developed testing programs and conducted program evaluations for profit and non-profit organizations, including Motorola, U.S. Army, Arthur Anderson, and Boeing Airplane.more information...
Margery Osborne
Professor
My past research has examined the evolving relationships between teacher, students and subject matter in elementary school classrooms. My current research examines the qualities necessary for the creation and enactment of socially and culturally sensitive science instruction. This involves, in particular, the exploration of the moral and ethical issues raised by such goals and senstivities.more information...
Yoon Pak
Associate Professor
My research focuses on the following topics: - Education of Seattle's Japanese American students on the eve of their incarceration in 1942. - Americanization and Citizenship education in the Seattle Schools, 1916-1942. - Investigating the histories of Asian American education. - Intercultural Education in the Classroom, 1930s-1950s. - History of teaching methods and classroom culture. - Democratic Citizenship Education, Americanization, and acculturation of ethnic minorities and immigrant groups in the U.S. - Comparative approaches to democratic and tolerance education during the Progressive Era. - History of U.S. education in the early twentieth century. - Asian American Education.more information...
Laurence Parker
Associate Professor
My past research has focused on educational leadership and diversity, education law and teacher testing, and diversity and evaluation. My current research interests involve looking at critcial race theory and its connection to educational research, policy and practice in the k-12 and postsecondary settings. I am also interested in research dealing with social justice perspectives in educational administration, leadership and policy, particularly with respect to race and social class.more information...
Michelle Perry
Professor
My research focuses on children�s learning � especially of mathematics in elementary schools � and the ways in which this can be supported. I attempt to explain how students take up new concepts and contribute to the collective understanding of mathematics in the classroom. My ongoing projects include analysis of video data from first- and fifth-grade classrooms, both in the United States and in China. New students are welcome to join our research group to look at the practices and structures in these lessons that potentially influence student learning.more information...
Michael Peters
Professor
Michael A Peters is Professor of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Adjunct Professor at RMIT. He is the editor of Educational Philosophy and Theory (Blackwell) and Policy Futures in Education and E-Learning. Recent books include: Showing and Doing: Wittgenstein as a Pedagogical Philosopher (Paradigm, 2008) with Nick Burbules and Paul Smeyers; Global Knowledge Cultures (Sense, 2008) with Cushla Kapitzke; Subjectivity and Truth: Foucault, Education and the Culture of Self (Peter Lang, 2007), Why Foucault? New Directions in Educational Research (Peter Lang, 2007), Building Knowledge Cultures: Educational and Development in the Age of Knowledge Capitalism (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006), all with Tina (A.C.) Besley.more information...
Evangeline Pianfetti
Assistant Dean, Learning Technologies
One of my main research interests is digital video as an instructional tool and as a Web resource. I conduct research on professional development and technology integration, including the increased use of digital video as an instructional tool. I am interested in helping teachers integrate technologies into their curriculum. I currently administer two grants. Unity in Community, funded by Apple Computer, Inc., is a collaborative project between Urbana Middle School and the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and uses service learning and computer technology to create a student-centered, project-based curriculum.more information...
Wanda Pillow
Associate Professor
My research interests include the intersections of gender, race, class and sexuality as they impact issues of representation, access, voice, and equality. I explore these issues through thinking and writing about the doing of qualitative research and the methodologies that guide our analyses. I am completing work on a book about the education of school-aged mothers, 1972-2002, that builds from the above interests and further develops my thinking about doing critical, race-based feminist policy analysis.more information...
Adam Poetzel
Clinical Assistant Professor
Adam Poetzel serves as a Clinical Assistant Professor in secondary mathematics education. He joined the C&I faculty in the fall of 2007 after teaching mathematics at Champaign Central High School for ten years. Adam’s instructional focus is on the preparation and training of pre-service mathematics teachers to effectively teach diverse middle and high school students. Currently, he teaches a variety of methods courses for both undergraduate and graduate candidates including courses that examine the role of technology in today’s mathematics classrooms. He maintains strong ties with local schools and is actively involved in several grants focused on the professional development of in-service mathematics teachers.more information...
David Richman
Associate Professor
My teaching and research focuses on assessment and treatment of behavior disorders such as aggression, property destruction, and self-injurious behavior within a Behavior Analytic conceptual model. Current research areas focus on studying the effects of early intervention and prevention treatment packages for birth-to-five children with disabilities exhibiting emerging self-injury. We are attempting to develop behaviorally-based parent training programs to enhance child functional communication and reduce self-injury, chronic stereotypic behavior, and other common early childhood behavior problems such as tantrums.more information...
Fazal Rizvi
Professor
My research interests focus on the following areas: - Global Studies in Education - Comparative and international education; - Internationalization of Higher education; - Cultural globalization and education policy; - Postcolonial theories of identity, representation and education; - Global inequalities and educational policy; and - International student mobility. More recently, I have begun working on Indian higher education and the ways in which it is engaging with the challenges of globalization and the knowledge economy.more information...
Joseph Robinson
Assistant Professor
I am interested in estimating causal and differential effects of education policies and practices, especially as they pertain to reducing achievement gaps. In studying these effects, I often use quasi-experimental methods (e.g., regression discontinuity, propensity score matching), which use observational data but approximate a randomized control trial to provide unbiased effect estimates. I also teach a course on Quasi-experimental Methods (EDPSY 574), which deals with the theories, assumptions, limitations, and implementation issues related to these methods. I am particularly interested in these methods because they can provide an accurate measure of the effectiveness of a policy or practice.more information...
Philip Rodkin
Associate Professor (Child Development Chair)
I study how children at school get along with one another—the friendships and antipathies they form, the norms they promote and defy, the cultures they create—and focus on aggression and conflict, particularly how aggressive children are integrated into peer social life. My scholarship is framed by basic issues in children’s personality and social development and is directed towards critical educational concerns such as school violence reduction, the middle childhood origins of peer sexual harassment, and teacher education about children’s social dynamics.more information...
James Rounds
Professor
Vocational interests and how they change over the life span. Research examines the structure of interests, how that structure develops and changes over the life course, and the reciprocal influences among personality, interests, and abilities with a focus on constructing models. Also, career development in adulthood, assessment of personality traits and work values, and occasionally, a venture into health psychology.more information...
Allison Ryan
Associate Professor
Young adolescents' motivation, engagement, and performance in school are important issues. While all individuals do not experience serious problems in school during early adolescence, many do. Disengagement in school at this age has far-reaching consequences for education and career opportunities. The overall goal of my research is to increase our understanding of achievement beliefs and behaviors during this stage of life. A theme throughout my research on achievement during early adolescence is a focus on the intersection of social and academic concerns of young adolescents at school.more information...
Katherine Ryan
Associate Professor (Queries Chair)
My research interests focus on educational evaluation and the intersection of educational accountability issues and high stakes assessment. As educational accountability has become increasingly more important nationally and globally, my work has examined both evaluative capacity building and monitoring issues involved in test-based educational accountability. My current research includes an investigation of the intended and unintended consequences of a state-wide assessment and accountability system in relationship to students, instruction, and educational outcomes.more information...
Rosa Milagros Santos Gilbertz
Associate Professor
For several years I worked as a preschool teacher and as a special education teacher . I am an active member of DEC serving in various leadership roles for the Illinois subdivision and national DEC. I serve on the Editorial Board of the Division for Early Childhood's (DEC) Journal on Early Intervention and currently an Associate Editor for the Young Exceptional Children journal . My research interests include issues that relate to the impact of culture, race and language in the delivery of services to young children with disabilities (birth to five years old) and their families. My current research efforts focus on the examination of parent-child interactions across cultures.more information...
Thomas A. Schwandt
Professor and Ed. Psych. Department Chair
My scholarship is primarily focused on the intersection of social research and practical philosophy and is heavily influenced by the tradition of philosophical hermeneutics. In my research I investigate questions concerning the nature of human action, practice, and understanding, as well as the nature and role of expertise and dialogue in developing understanding. In addition, as a student of methodology, I study matters concerning the ethics of research, the nature and status of evidence, and the ways in which evidence is linked to claims.more information...
Carolyn Shields
Professor
Carolyn Shields spent 18 years in K-12 education, including special education, French as a second language, gifted programs, and various leadership positions before completing her doctorate at the University of Saskatchewan and moving to the professorate where she is now a professor of educational leadership. Her research, teaching, and much of her advising are focused on leadership and social justice, with an emphasis on how leaders in North America and elsewhere can promote deeply democratic educational experiences for students through transformative leadership. She has published seven books and numerous articles related to these interests.more information...
Karrie Shogren
Assistant Professor
The ultimate goal of my work is to identify and implement strategies that support the self-determination and full participation of people with disabilities in our diverse society. My work cuts across three areas. First, conceptualizations of disability in society and the impacts of the ecological model of disability and the supports paradigm on our understanding of disability and the supports provided to people with disabilities. My research and writing in this area focuses on public policy, systems change, definition and classification systems and their interactive effects on people with disabilities.more information...
Jenny Singleton
Associate Professor
My current program of research focuses on deaf children's language development, both American Sign Language and English, including investigation of the ways that deaf teachers support deaf children's identity and language development through visual means.more information...
Linda Sloat
Clinical Assistant Professor
Linda Sloat’s primary research interests focus on issues surrounding school improvement in K-12 education, including the administrator’s roles and responsibilities in the change process and leadership for learning at both the building and district level. During her extensive public school administrative career, she also focused on education for the gifted and literacy acquisition.more information...
Christopher Span
Associate Professor
I am an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I am an historian of education in the department of Educational Policy Studies. My research interests pertain to the educational history of African Americans in the 19th and 20th century.more information...
Lisa Spanierman
Associate Professor
My research focuses on White individuals’ racial attitudes, their responses to societal racism, and the psychosocial costs of racism to Whites (i.e., negative consequences experienced by Whites as dominant group members in an oppressive system). My colleagues and I developed the Psychosocial Costs of Racism to Whites (PCRW) scale, which measures empathic reactions toward racism, White guilt, and irrational fear of people from other racial groups. Presently, we are deepening our understanding of the relevance of these costs of racism to White students in increasingly diverse environments, and also applying costs of racism theory to White counselors and educators.more information...
Robert Stake
Professor Emeritus
My past efforts have focused on program evaluation theory and practice, and qualitative research methods including case study. I am currently involved in performance assessment in New York City schools and the evaluation of training in the U.S. Veterans Administration. Since 1975 I have been director of the Center for Instructional Research and Curriculum Evaluation (CIRCE). Once a specialist in psychometrics and instructional research, my present orientation is naturalistic or ethnographic field study, particularly of the classroom. In 1998 I retired from the University of Illinois but continue to teach and head CIRCE.more information...
Elizabeth A. L. Stine-Morrow
Professor
Cognition shows patterns of both loss and gain through adulthood. While "mental mechanics" (i.e., working memory capacity, computational speed, executive control of attention) may decline, crystallized abilities (i.e., verbal ability, knowledge, acculturation) show continued capacity for growth in many life-span contexts. Our research program has been focused on understanding the implications of these changes in basic capacities for continued learning, how strategic regulation of attention enables compensation, and how habitual engagement in learning engenders cognitive vitality.more information...
Sharon Tettegah
Associate Professor
My research focuses on pre-service teacher education and students as it relates to human perception and performance in human-computer intelligent interaction within teaching and learning milieus. I specialize in the study of social simulations and virtual reality environments. I am currently investigating pre-service teachers, and other students in higher education, attitudes and perceptions of student's school interactions involving empathy. My research interests include the use of web based animated narrative vignette technologies (social simulations) as a methodology to understand cognitive and emotional responses of educators and other professionals in helping professions.more information...
John Trach
Associate Professor
Current research includes the transition of students from school to work and employment for persons with disabilities, the development of support networks to enhance community inclusion, program implementation and evaluation, and inservice and preservice training. Goals for future research projects are to more effectively describe successful postschool outcomes for persons with significant disabilities maximizing entitlement programs (e.g., public school, social security).more information...
Tod Treat
Assistant Professor
My research interests focus on four broad areas: Alliance formation and collaborative forms. Knowledge transfers and boundary spanning, particularly in complex, high technology organizations such as health care, pharmaceutical, life science, renewable energy, and nanotechnology industries. Technology transfer. STEM educational systems and policy toward societal problem-solving. Training and development of scientists and managers to enhance national competitiveness in science and technology. Scientific literacy across the population, recruitment and retention of women and minorities.more information...
William Trent
Professor
My past research has focused on: 1) Educational Inequality: school desegregation effects (K-12, postsecondary), benefits and consequences, social organziation of school, status attainment research, co- and extracurricular activities, comparative education; 2) Race and Ethnicity: social stratification and mobility, equality of opportunity; and 3) Complex Organization/Social Change/Policy. I am principal investigator for an Educational Reform Project focused on understanding the role of race, ethnicity, class and gender in school reform. I have also recently served as an expert witness on a court appointed panel in Vaughns, et. al. v. Bd. of Educ. of P.G. Co., MD.more information...
Brenda Trofanenko
Assistant Professor
My research focuses on the public museum as an educational institution, the nationalist purpose of education (specifically history education), and, the development of students' historical consciousness. There exists a need to examine how students learn about the past in various public institutions, and how this is framed as advancing a national identity and feelings of nationalism. Much of my work is situated in public museums (history, ethnology, and natural history museums) that allows for examining how students gain an understanding of historical knowledge by engaging in historical inquiry. I then examine how students can distinguish how various interpretations of the past serve particular purposes in the present.more information...
Brendesha Tynes
Assistant Professor
My research focuses on adolescent and emerging adult constructions of culture, race and identity in online settings and associations between online victimization and psychological adjustment. Central goals of my work are to outline the psychosocial and educational benefits of social media as well as the risk and protective factors associated with online racial discrimination.more information...
Ian Westbury
Professor Emeritus
Ian Westbury’s current program of research focuses on state-level curriculum-making and educational decision-making. He is completing a cross-national study of state-based curriculum-making in Illinois, Finland, Norway, Germany, and Switzerland and a study of the management of the NCLB supplemental services program by the Illinois State Board of Education. He is general editor of the Journal of Curriculum Studies.more information...
Arlette Ingram Willis
Professor
My research interests are drawn from critical theory and applied to the history of literacy, trends and issues in reading research preservice literacy education. My research projects have focused on: the application of a critical pedagogy in preservice teacher education courses that use multicultural literature, the history of African American Literacy, and a critical history of literacy in the United States. My current projects include a naturalistic study of a critically framed preservice literacy course and a ethnohistorical study of the Calhoun Colored School.more information...
Jinming Zhang
Associate Professor
Jinming Zhang's research interests focus on theoretical and applied statistical issues involved with educational and psychological measurement, specifically, multidimensional item response theory, dimensionality assessment procedures, large-scale assessment, and test security. From 1996 to 2009 he was employed at the Educational Testing Service (ETS) where he was a senior research scientist in the Division of Research and Development. He had worked on various research and operational projects related to large-scale educational assessments, specifically, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), at ETS.more information...
David Zola
Clinical Professor
My research interests are perceptual development during reading acquisition, adolescent literacy, adult learning and development, and undergraduate education. I currently teach several undergraduate educational psychology foundations courses that focus on the theories and practices of learning, development, and adjustment.more information...