Sponsored Projects and Initiatives
College of Education Fact Sheet (Printable PDF)
The Curriculum Theory Project
The Curriculum Theory Project studies the historical, political, social aspects of curriculum. Involved locally, regionally, and nationally, it has special emphasis on the international. The Curriculum Theory Project has been active in the formation of the American Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies (AAACS) and the International Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies (IAACS).
Dr. William Doll, Professor: wdoll@lsu.edu, 578-2556
http://asterix.ednet.lsu.edu/~lsuctp/
The French Education Project
http://asterix.ednet.lsu.edu/~dekuehne/fep.htm
The Holmes Program
http://appl003.lsu.edu/educ/edci.nsf/$Content/LSU+Holmes+Program+Features?OpenDocument
The Peripheral Neuropathy Exercise Intervention Project
http://pn.lsu.edu
The Positive Behavior Support Center
http://lapositivebehavior.com
Coastal Roots Project
http://www.lamer.lsu.edu/projects/coastalroots/index.htm
The Writing Project
The LSU Writing Project seeks to extend the use of writing in all disciplines by identifying, celebrating, and enhancing the professional role of successful teachers and by providing schools, colleges, and universities with an effective professional development model.
Elizabeth Willis, Director [ewilli@lsu.edu, 578-2474]
http://www.lsuwritingproject.org
GEAR UP
http://www.gearup.lsu.edu/
LSYOU
http://www.lsu.edu/lsyou
Teaching American History in Louisiana
Teaching American History in Louisiana (TAHIL) brings together thirty American History Teachers and Librarians each year from the parishes of East and West Baton Rouge, East and West Feliciana, Ascention and Orleans. Participants in the grant take part in an intensive Summer Institute on Teaching American History taught by History Professors and Master teachers. Each year a different period in American History will be focused on and as a result the Teacher Consultants (TCs) trained will have a deeper knowledge of key periods in American History as well as a wealth of digitized documents chosen to enhance their teaching. TC's will write additional unit plans using a variety of documents, all of which will then be scanned and become part of the TAHIL database of resources.
Dr. Jimmy Stockard, Project Director [stockard@lsu.edu, 578-4690]
http://louisdl.louislibraries.org/TAH/Pages/home.html
Gordon A. Cain Center for Scientific, Technological, Engineering, and Mathematical Literacy
The Cain Center is a joint venture of the Colleges of Arts & Sciences, Basic Sciences, Engineering, and Education at LSU. The center is dedicated to strengthening science and mathematics education in Louisiana through activities which support teachers. The Cain Center serves as a resource center to aid teachers in instituting best pedagogic practices to meet the high standards of literacy established by national educational and scientific organizations. The center promotes those goals through:
**
teacher preparation, particularly in science and math courses at the college level;
**K-12 outreach with a major component of in-service teacher training; and
**research into effective teaching strategies, particularly teacher-oriented activities.
http://cain.lsu.edu
The 15° Laboratory
The 15° Laboratory research group was established in 1996, and it is currently the largest focused biology education research group in the US. The laboratory itself has housed the editorial office of the Journal of Research in Science Teaching and the North American editorial office of the International Journal of Science Education. The group’s research articles, books, textbooks, posters, awards, and professional presentations are known around the globe. Its principal knowledge base lies at the intersection of visual cognition, knowledge representation, and biology (especially botanical) education. It does R & D work on innovative visual approaches for the improvement of science learning at schools and colleges, as well as at museums and botanic gardens. Its annual Giverny Award (established in 1998) for best children’s science picture book is internationally recognized by publishers and children’s librarians. It also produces LSU Science Talk, a poster-sized newsletter covering
campus science seminars and science education news, published twice each semester (1989-present).
Location: 223-F Peabody Hall 225/ 578-2348
http://www.15degreelab.com
The College of Education is engaged in a collaborative venture called the Delta Express Project---a program which addresses both educational and social needs of underserved children displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Partners in the program include the University of California-Berkeley, Tulane University, the Baton Rouge Area Foundation and other volunteer organizations, as well as various business entities. The Delta Express Project--an adaptation of a longstanding Cal-Berkley project called UC Links--offers formal and informal learning activities that the children consider to be “fun.” Currently, LSU students, along with faculty from the LSU College of Education and from Berkeley, work with children nightly at the Groom Road FEMA trailer park in Baker, Louisiana.
The LSU College of Education’s existing GEAR UP grant, funded by the U.S. Department of Education for $2 million and spanning six years, supports faculty’s work with EBR schools to provide postsecondary opportunities for underprivileged youth. In this final year, GEAR UP has served over 1500 students and their families by providing parent workshops, career workshops, extended day instruction, academic counseling, summer enrichment programs, college visits, etc. A new $5.5 million funding request for another six year project is pending.
LSYOU (Louisiana State Youth Opportunities Unlimited) is a College of Education program in existence for 18 years and jointly funded by the Tangipahoa Parish School System WIA (Workforce Investment Act), the EBR Parish WIA, and the Pennington Foundation. This program seeks to assist Louisiana adolescent youth in overcoming obstacles to their success by offering a research-based, four year model. The two major components of LSYOU---summer and school-year---offer a six-week residential program for Middle School/Junior High students at a high risk for dropping out and intense intervention into all aspects of the student's life, followed by individual support (tutoring, mentoring, weekend retreats, etc) until the student graduates from high school.
Louisiana Leaders for Learning (L3), a three-year, $450,000+ grant from the U.S. Department of Education to the College of Education, supports collaborative efforts with East Feliciana Parish Schools in the selection and mentoring of teacher leaders for education leadership program cohorts.
LSU’s National Writing Project, established in 1984 and housed in the College of Education, is one of 189 nationally funded sites supportive of university / P-12 partnerships dedicated to improving the quality of P-12 student writing. Serving ten parishes in the southern part of the state, the LSU project hosts invitational summer writing institutes for successful teachers of writing to prepare them to lead workshops for other teachers. Other programs of this 300-member network include rural open institutes, administrators’ writing retreats, youth writing activities, quarterly meetings, and an annual convocation.
LSU College of Education faculty were recently awarded a National Science Foundation grant of $300,000 over three years to assist P-12 teachers in analyzing their own science inquiry skills, as well as those of their students, via the development of an inquiry skill analyzer. COE faculty will also assist teachers in selecting, designing, developing, implementing, and evaluating technology-supported learning activities to develop science inquiry skills.
Louisiana Positive Behavioral Support (LPBS), a long-standing College of Education program of over $300,000 per year, is funded by LA Dept of Education. This program provides support to the Statewide Positive Behavioral Support Team, related professional development, and evaluation of school-wide PBS.
The College of Education has been awarded a Board of Regents K-16 Partnership---
$1 million over three years---in collaboration with the LSU College of Arts & Sciences, the Gordon A. Cain Center, and Southern University. This partnership will support faculty in assisting Glen Oaks Middle, EBR Public Schools, with reconstitution.
Earlier this year, the College of Education hosted "Promoting Excellence by Empowering Communities through Education: An Old South Baton Rouge Workshop." Over 40 participants from LSU and the surrounding community generated ideas for improving educational and health opportunities in Old South Baton Rouge. LSU faculty are actively engaged in working with neighborhood schools and community partners to develop and implement programs focused on education and wellness.
Also part of the Old South Baton Rouge effort was the transferal from LSU to the Carver Branch Library in EBR Parish of 200+ copies of taped interviews documenting the history of Old South Baton Rouge. A product of the McKinley High School Oral History Project, the tapes represent work stemming from a ten year collaborative relationship among the College of Education, T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History, School of Social Work, Service Learning Center and the Old South Baton Rouge Community. With impact nationally and locally, these oral histories highlight the important role the Old South Baton Rouge community played in the civil rights movement. The tapes include narratives on the 1953 Baton Rouge bus boycott, the pioneering strides in education for African Americans, and some of the earliest documented organizing for voting rights---capturing the history of the churches, businesses, social clubs, and organizations in the Old South Baton Rouge area.
LSU College of Education faculty, in collaboration with School of Human Ecology faculty, guided PK-3 students who worked in Katrina shelters across the area by providing developmental and reading experiences for young children there.
Additionally, College of Education, Human Ecology, and School of Social Work faculty were awarded an $88,000 National Science Foundation grant, "Early Childhood Educators' Responses to Katrina and Child Outcomes," an exploratory study investigating teachers' immediate responses to and children's learning about hurricanes. Supplemental studies have also been funded by Louisiana EPSCoR and the National Institutes of Health.
LSU’s Secondary Teacher Education Preparation Thru Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics (S.T.E.P. thru S.T.E.M.) program, supported by $1.5 million in NSF STEM-TP and Noyce grants, has enjoyed an increase in mathematics and science education enrollment. Faculty have been able to attract outstanding mathematics and science majors to LSU’s undergraduate and master’s level teacher education programs through scholarships ranging from $1000-$15,000. University faculty in education, mathematics, and the sciences collaborate with area secondary faculty in creating enriching field experiences integrally tied to coursework.
LSU’s Gordon A. Cain Center for Scientific, Technological, Engineering, & Mathematical Literacy, supported by a $2.5 million endowment, provides leadership in interdisciplinary educational research and practice that supports and enhances literacy in all four disciplines. The Cain Center creates opportunities for collaborativ PK-20 faculty research in the investigation and development of strategies that enhance student learning.
This year the College of Education hosted an international curriculum conference at the Solomon Conference Center in Loranger, Louisiana. Previously held in Alberta and Ontario, Canada, the Complexity Science and Education Research Conference attracted 65+ participants from Africa, China, and across North America.
The College’s French Education Project (FEP) is one of the three poles which, with the Center for French and Francophone Studies and the Department of French Studies, constitute LSU’s Pluridisciplinary Center, which the French government has identified as a Center of Excellence. The primary goal of the FEP is the improvement of the teaching of French and francophone cultures, with special emphasis on Louisiana's francophone heritage through teacher education, material development, and research. The FEP conducts research projects on teacher education, schools, students, and foreign language education, in particular on French immersion programs in Louisiana. Louisiana foreign language immersion programs are unique, as many are housed in public P-12 schools with underserved English-speaking student populations—minorities and children from lower socio-economic status. Twenty-five percent of all immersion programs in the United States are located in Louisiana, as are thirty percent of the schools, 22% of the students, and 21% of the teachers of French. Louisiana immersion programs are recognized as among the best in the United States.
The College of Education has entered into agreements with the Zachary Community School System and the City of Baker School System which target the transformation of P-12 school counseling. These initiatives will result not only in direct collaboration among LSU and district counseling faculty, but also in hands-on experiences for LSU graduate students in counseling. In a similar effort, College of Education counseling faculty are collaborating with Save the Children and the International Rescue Committee in a multi-level, sustainable proposal referred to as CORPS for Baker (Comprehensive Opportunities for Renewal in a Post-Katrina Setting). If adopted, CORPS for Baker will provide P-12 staff with the resources needed to create positive and stimulating learning and teaching environments through training in innovative school counseling models focused on increasing effectiveness and community resources while encouraging parental involvement. Additionally, CORPS for Baker will result in valuable research data, as well as in support in areas such as children’s needs assessment, program response development, and training for caregivers and parents through support workshops.
Teacher Preparation Facts (2004-05)
Candidates engage in extensive P-12 experiences working with diverse student populations. Field-based sites reflect student populations of over 20% labeled at-risk and averages of 66% minority and 63% students qualifying for free/reduced lunch.
School Partnership arrangements connect the entire university community with East Baton Rouge schools, highlighted by Highland Elementary, McKinley Middle, and Sherwood Middle School Partnerships. University faculty collaborate with pre- and
in-service teachers to deliver onsite coursework and professional development focused on student performance-based school needs.
Education and arts & sciences faculty collaborate to provide a radically redesigned secondary certification program in which candidates earn degrees in arts and sciences while attaining certification through a unique series of field-based professional practice seminars team-taught by faculty across colleges.
Education and Human Ecology faculty collaborate to provide an innovative PK-3 certification program in which candidates engage in intensive instruction integrated with extensive field-based experiences focused on best practices in early childhood and lower primary grades instruction. Candidates engage in a full year of student teaching experiences---one semester at the PK-K level and one semester in grades 1st through 3rd.
Unique five-/fifth year Holmes programs leading to master’s degrees and K-12 certification are rigorous, highly selective, and heavily field-based---supporting the immediate and direct integration of theory with best practice. Candidates participate in a full year of student teaching experiences. Employers of graduates consistently comment that these program completers enter the classroom as 2nd or 3rd year teachers, rather than as beginners.
Approximately one-fourth of all National Board Certified teachers in Louisiana have connections to LSU. The LSU Laboratory School has more than any other school in the state.
LSU continues to produce more graduates in teacher education programs than any other institution in the state.
