CEHD Research In Press: April 2023

NEWS 

Dr. Katherine Nelson (Assistant Professor, School Counseling) has been awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to address critical school-based mental health needs in North Dakota. Along with UND CEHD co-PIs Dr. Kristen Votava (Associate Professor, Early Childhood Education), and Dr. Tanis Walch (Associate Professor of Public Health), the award of $6 million dollars over five years will primarily be allocated for the education and training of school counseling and mental health professionals who serve Indigenous and/or rural communities. Details are in the “Spotlight” below.  

Dr. Laura Link new article Every teacher grades differently, which isn’t fair was published in The Conversation. After one week since publication, the article had over 6,000 full reads, and Laura was invited to participate in a guest interview addressing “the problems with grades” on a national podcast Tests and the Rest: The College Admissions Industry Podcast.  

CEHD Research Conference has been rescheduled to May 16 due to the blizzard on the original date. The conference will take place from 11-4 in the Memorial Union ballroom. The CEHD Research Conference Program – March 27 2023. Lunch will be served to those who RSVP, and snacks and refreshments will be available. 

Dr. Rob Stupnisky received the W. J. McKeachie Career Achievement Award from the Special Interest Group for Faculty Teaching, Evaluation and Development (SIG-FTED) of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). The award “recognizes outstanding contributions, over a career, to the fields of faculty teaching, evaluation and development, and to SIG-FTED”. 

Alissa Carter, a CEHD EdD student, gave two international research presentations on gifted programs. The first conference (Germany) had such overwhelming attendance and interest in the program and the multiple ways of implementing the various intervention programs, the Educational Collaborative for International Schools (ECIS) board requested that Alissa again speak at their flagship conference the following month for school leaders (Greece). 

Dr. Ryan Summers since 2021 has been part of an action research group of science teacher educators who were connected through their work with pre-service teachers who were likely to teach in rural settings. All of the participants conducted independent projects focused on globalization or bringing global awareness around issues to preservice teachers (Ryan’s was largely connected to the middle level methods class, TL 465). They attended a set of seminars (online) throughout the project and met in person as a group with the project PIs for a few days at the University of Indiana (May 2022). The culminating product of this collaboration was an edited book, and Dr. Summer’s chapter (listed below) has been accepted for publication. Their conference session at NARST in Chicago, which runs April 18-21, 2023, will allow some of the authors to share our experiences with other researchers and educators in thefield. 

Dr. Summers also worked with two CEHD PhD students, Maria Zaman and Jill Baird (pictured) to present a research poster on ACES funded through ND-EPSCoR. 

Maire Brandenberg, Tammy Hoffer, McKenzie Rabenn, and Cheryl Hunter published a chapter in HOT OF THE PRESS, a fantastic book on teaching research methods in education. The doctoral students working together across our different PhD programs on their collaborative learning, writing and publishing efforts. 

The CEHD higher education faculty is sharing that the Association for Study of Higher Education (ASHE) annual conference this year will be in Minneapolis on November 15-18. The close location is a great opportunity for faculty and students to present their research. Submissions are due April 25.   

Dr. Radomir (Ray) Mitic (EHBS, Higher Education) was recently awarded the UND School of Graduate Studies Summer Research Professorship for his project titled “Career Readiness and Pathways in Autonomous Systems Graduate Programs.” His mixed-methods study examines how graduate students, recent graduates, faculty, and industry professionals perceive career preparation of master’s and PhD programs to understand how academia and industry can better recruit, retain, and graduate individual for diverse career pathways. 

I-REEED presents Spotlight on Innovations in Teacher Recruitment and Retention, Part II: Highlights from Across the State on Wednesday, Apr. 26, 2023 from 6–8 pm. Last fall, I-REEED (the Initiative for Rural Education, Equity, and Economic Development) and UND’s College of Education and Human Development presented Spotlight on Innovations in Teacher Recruitment and Retention, an introductory webinar that focused on examining positive innovations occurring in the area of teacher recruitment and retention. In this follow up event, North Dakota education leaders will share some specific examples of how they are innovating in teacher recruitment and retention, including university-district partnerships, grow-your-own initiatives, housing programs, and recruitment of international teachers. This two-hour webinar will start with brief presentations, followed by a panel discussion moderated by Diana D’Amico Pawlewicz. There is no cost for this event, but registration is required. Please RSVP no later than Tuesday, Apr. 25, 2023. 

SPOTLIGHT

The College of Education and Human Development at the University of North Dakota has been awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to address critical school-based mental health needs in North Dakota. The award of $6 million dollars over five years will primarily be allocated for the education and training of school counseling and mental health professionals who serve Indigenous and/or rural communities. 

Dr. Katherine Nelson, an Assistant Professor at UND in Counseling with a K-12 School Counseling Emphasis, is the primary awardee of the grant funding. Dr. Nelson, a former school counselor herself, can attest to the critical need to recruit and hire qualified school counselors.  

“This money will enable collaborative support for school counselor training, work, and increased training and professional development, particularly in our Indigenous, First Nation, American Indian, and rural school communities throughout North Dakota,” said Nelson.  

Dr. Kristen Votava, Associate Professor and Director of Early Childhood Education, and Dr. Tanis Walch, Associate Professor of Public Health, are also recipients of the grant.

One objective of this grant will be to provide additional funding for the continued expansion of the “School Health Hub,” an interdisciplinary collaboration with Grand Forks Public Schools that provides school-based accessible counseling, public health and additional early childhood intervention services. Viking Elementary School has hosted the pilot of this program for two years; with this funding, the School Health Hub will expand to Lake Agassiz, Wilder, and Winship Elementary Schools as well as Valley Middle School for the next four academic years. 

Another objective of this grant is to fund the education and preparation of 36 school counseling students in UND’s M.A. Counseling program. The grant will provide up to $81,000 per student to cover tuition, licensing, professional development, and fees. In consultation and collaboration with Indigenous, First Nation, and American Indian educational leaders, funding will prioritize individuals who are already licensed teachers working in North Dakota Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) or public tribal / reservation K-12 schools. Secondary prioritization will be given to licensed teachers in rural underserved school communities who will be eligible to work as provisionally credentialed school counselors in their local schools.  

Dr. Nelson is eager to begin the work of expanding mental health services within North Dakota schools. “We look forward to these grant funded opportunities being a replicable model for our state, region, and nationally to better meet the unique needs of school communities,” said Nelson.   

The program will fund eighteen students who can begin their program in Summer 2023, and another eighteen who can begin their program in Fall 2023. Those interested must apply to UND’s M.A. Counseling program (with a School Counseling Emphasis). For more information, please contact Dr. Katherine Nelson at k.nelson.1@UND.edu. 

LATEST SCHOLARSHIP

CEHD faculty are in bold, and CEHD students are underlined. 

Grants

Nelson, K., Votava, K., & Walch, T. ($6,000,000). US Department of Education.

Mitic, R. Career Readiness and Pathways in Autonomous Systems Graduate Programs. UND School of Graduate Studies Summer Research Professorship 

Publications

Dahl, E., Moody, E. J., Barger, B., Rosenberg, S., DiGuiseppi, C., Fallin, M. D., … & Wiggins, L. (2023). Differential Performance of Social Communication Questionnaire Items in African American/Black vs. White Children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 1-14. 

Summers, R. (accepted). Fostering preservice science teachers’ global awareness through a socio-scientific issues approach set in the context of COVID-19. In V. Akerson, G. A. Buck, & V. Dimitrieska (Eds.) Internationalizing rural science teacher preparation: Action research for global competency. Springer.   

Brandenberg, M., Hoffer, T., Rabenn, M., & Hunter, C. (2023). Block by Block: Building the Discussion Section. In A Practical Guide to Teaching Research Methods in Education (pp. 241-248). Routledge. 

Mitic, R.R. (2023, March/April). Responding to international graduate student enrollment trends: Lessons for the future. NAFSA Trends & Insights. NAFSA: Association of International Educators. https://www.nafsa.org/sites/default/files/media/document/TrendsInsights_March%20April%202023.pdf 

Fang L (2023) Study on the Cross Cultural Teaching Design in English. Jourmal of Guangxi Normal University for Nationalities,40(1),113-120. 

Presentations

Zehavi, E., Miller, D.M., & Link, L. (accepted for 2023, August). Three thresholds in a single crossing: Harnessing new alliances within a critical friendship. The Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP, a SIG of AERA) International Biennial Conference, East Sussex, England. 

Link, L. J. (April, 2023). Is standards-based grading effective? Current Trends in Education, North Dakota Association of Colleges for Teacher Education Annual Conference. Mayville, ND.  

Link, L. J., Ahn, J., Schleicher, J., & Schlenker, J. (April, 2023). Mastery learning: Getting classroom assessment right. Current Trends in Education, North Dakota Association of Colleges for Teacher Education Annual Conference. Mayville, ND. 

Summers, R. (2023, accepted). Globalizing STEM in Rural Teacher Education Programs. V. Akerson, G. A. Buck, & V. Dimitrieska (Session Organizers), Strand 7 Symposium. Panel discussion accepted for presentation at the annual meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, Chicago, IL. 

Carter, A. K. (2023, March). Gifted programs in an international school: A case study. ECIS Inclusive Education Conference, Athens, Greece. 

Carter, A. K. (2023, April). Gifted programs in an international school: A case study. ECIS Leadership Conference, Düsseldorf, Germany. 

Zaman, M., Baird, J., & Summers, R. (2023, March). Mentoring Early Career Teachers and Supporting North Dakota Schools through the Rural Student Teaching Experience: Participant Profiles from Fall 2021 to Spring 2023. Poster presented at the annual conference of the North Dakota Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (ND-EPSCoR), Fargo, ND.