College Student Affairs grad students at NASPA Convention

The annual national conference of NASPA: Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education held in Baltimore, MD, this year was attended by thirteen graduate students from Bloomsburg University’s own Counseling and College Student Affairs program.

The conference ran March 16th-29th, during which time students attended educational sessions, learned about opportunities for involvement in NASPA, and expanded their understanding of college student learning and development. Amongst others, sessions included “Navigating the Role of a New Professional: Transition, Trials, and Tips in the First Year,” “Effective Practices in Partnering with Academic Affairs,” and “Orienting Parents and Families: How is Higher Education Serving the Parents of Students of Color, First-generation, and Low-income Students?”

The opportunity for these thirteen students to participate in the conference was made possible by generous funding from the Bloomsburg University Foundation.

The College of Education is proud of these students for representing the university and the College Student Affairs program at this event as well as for the enthusiasm and engagement they displayed while in attendance.

College awarded $2.2 million Department of Education Grant

The College of Education has been awarded $2.2 million by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through its Eligible Partnerships Postsecondary grant program.

This grant will fund a new project, Pre-Service Differently, which will be led by Bloomsburg University, in collaboration with Kutztown University, the Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit, PLS 3rd Learning, Research for Better Schools, as well as seven local school districts – Bloomsburg, Central Columbia, Mount Carmel, Shamokin, Millville, Warrior Run, and Columbia-Montour Vocational Technical School.

Pre-Service Differently will implement an online tool aligned to the PA Standards Aligned System to provide a continuous feedback loop to improve teacher preparation, induction, and professional development programs.

For Bloomsburg University education majors, this project translates into improved field experiences through the use of customized software. The software will provide budding teachers with assessment as well as modules that they can complete to increase their teaching ability and be matched with appropriate cooperating teachers for student teaching. Ultimately, this project aims to provide pre-service and novice teachers with the skills to increase student achievement in English language arts and mathematics.

McDowell Institute Nets State Grant

Bloomsburg University’s McDowell Institute for Teacher Excellence in Positive Behavior Support has received a Pennsylvania Safe Schools/Healthy Students Partnership (PA SS/HS) award of approximately $863,000 from the Pennsylvania Office of Mental Health. The PA SS/HS Partnership is, in turn, funded by a multi-million dollar federal grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

The goal of the PA SS/HS Partnership is to create safe and supportive schools and communities in three Local Education Agencies – Northeastern School District in York County, Carbon-Lehigh Intermediate Unit in Lehigh County, and Penncrest School District in Crawford County.

The project also involves cooperation with state-level departments of education, public welfare, and juvenile justice in concert with their local counterparts. The project aims to decrease bullying, youth violence, and criminal behavior as well as promote healthy development, social and emotional learning, and academic achievement of children and youth.

Dr. Timothy Knoster, professor of special education, will serve as the lead evaluator and chief designer and provider of technical assistance for the project. He will be responsible for developing, organizing, and providing technical assistance to state and local level parties involved in the project’s implementation.

Congratulations to the McDowell Institute and Dr. Knoster!

Reading Program Receives National Recognition

The Master’s in Reading program at Bloomsburg University has been nationally recognized by the International Reading Association through the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation’s Specialized Program Association.

The International Reading Association is a non-profit, global network committed to worldwide literacy. It reviews advanced programs that prepare students for careers in reading education, specifically reading specialists and literacy coaches. In order to receive national recognition, a program must meet high professional standards, as documented through a performance-based assessment system.

This is a landmark achievement for Bloomsburg University’s reading program, which has never before received this designation. A special thanks and congratulations to Dr. Virginia Bonomo and Dr. Cherie Roberts, who were instrumental in this process.

Additionally, three other Bloomsburg University programs – mid-level education, special education, and English – maintained their national recognition through the Specialized Program Association process.

To learn more about Bloomsburg’s Master of Education in Reading program, visit www.bloomu.edu/gradschool/reading.

Helping kids write

Beth Rogowsky, assistant professor of early childhood and adolescent education, has written an article for Scientific Learning’s blog about how developing cognitive skills is an important part of any writing program.

 When teachers think of teaching writing, they typically begin with the type of writing they want their students to compose—persuasive pieces, personal narratives, academic essays and the like. They think of following the steps of the writing process—prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing—and conduct mini-lessons during writers’ workshop. Others teachers begin diagraming sentences, discussing subject-verb agreement or distinguishing between nominative and objective case pronouns. All too often, however, little attention is given to the cognitive skills of writing. And that’s a shame, because cognitive skills are the building blocks upon which writing depends. 

 Read the rest of Rogowsky’s article at Scientific Learning: www.scilearn.com/blog/building-better-writers-without-picking-up-a-pen.php

A classroom of their own

Think back to when you were in elementary school. At some point, you had a student teacher. You appreciated her youth and energy and respected her as a teacher-in-training. Perhaps she inspired you to consider a career in education.

Student teaching at Bloomsburg University is the culmination of the undergraduate experience in the College of Education. Student teaching is the equivalent of doing an internship in business or a clinical practice in the medical field. Each year, education majors from Bloomsburg University travel each day to local school districts to obtain a 16-week practical experience in which they ultimately take over a class for a teacher. It is a rigorous experience which students are always excited to complete.

Putting theory they have learned from BU’s dedicated faculty into daily practice with an experienced teacher is a capstone experience. For most education majors in their final semester at BU, it reaffirms their readiness for a classroom of their own.

— Elizabeth K. Mauch, Dean

A strong start to the STEM Magnet Program

It seems that everywhere you turn, you hear about the importance of STEM education — that’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

We have good news about our STEM Magnet Program at Bloomsburg University. The program for high school juniors has been so successful that we have started planning for our second year — the 2014-2015 academic year.  We met over the past week with our current business and school district partners, including Berwick, Bloomsburg and Central Columbia school districts and PPL, Merck, Geisinger and others. I am happy to report that we will have two cohorts of students for the next academic year — one focused upon Engineering and one focused upon the Health Sciences.

Why is this program so important? It gives high-achieving rural high school students academic opportunities that parallel those of students from metropolitan areas. It provides a pipeline to outstanding career opportunities with area employers, who support the program financially and through mentorships. And these students will have 30 college credits by the time they graduate from high school.

We started with 20 students in fall 2014. That’s just the beginning!

— Elizabeth K. Mauch, Dean