My Recent Research Endeavors – by Dr. Bill Nagy

I have always been interested in how children learn words and how vocabulary can best be taught, and over the years I have often tried to synthesize what I know about effective vocabulary instruction.  My most recent publication (Nagy & Townsend, 2012) is the latest such attempt, focusing in particular on the challenges students face in understanding academic language.  I am also interested in how students’ awareness of language contributes to their reading ability.  In particular, I have been investigating morphological awareness – students’ knowledge about morphemes (prefixes, roots, and suffixes).  In my recent work with Dr. Scott Beers, I have also begun dealing with another aspect of literacy, writing.

Everything I know about these topics is going to be needed for my upcoming research.  Dr. Beers and I are now part of the research team led by Dr. Virginia Berninger at the University of Washington in the new Center for the Defining and Treating Specific Learning Disabilities in Written Language.  This center is part of the Learning Disabilities Research Centers Consortium funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).  (For a press release, see http://www.nichd.nih.gov/news/releases/011712-learning-disabilities-centers.cfm).  We’ll be part of an interdisciplinary team, including not only educators, but computer scientists, geneticists, and experts in brain imaging.  Our work will range from basic research on the nature of writing disabilities to very applied work on developing interventions to help students who struggle with writing.

Nagy, W.  & Townsend, D. (2012).   Words as tools:  Learning academic vocabulary as language acquisition.  Reading Research Quarterly, 47(1), 91-108.

Dr. Nagy has been a Professor in the School of Education at SPU since 1996. He teaches literacy and research courses and mentors many doctoral students. He was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame for his pioneering work in vocabulary development. 

My Path to SPU

by Amy Vaughn

As a math teacher in California, I was fortunate enough to be hired to teach at a Catholic high school that openly honored the values I felt called to demonstrate.  I immediately felt that I was a part of a unique community and wholly embraced the hallmarks of the school, particularly that of community service.  In the classroom, I felt that I had much more impact on my students’ emotional and spiritual growth because we could openly discuss our shared values.  But beyond this, I believe my students also participated in learning at much deeper levels because of our trust in each other and their willingness to take risks.             

During my time teaching in California, I felt called to continue my education to the doctoral level, and these same principles became part of the criteria in my search for a university.  I searched the nation for a school that I believed would best suit my needs as a student, a professional, and a Christian.  I wanted a school that was small enough to have a family feel, but large enough to have a powerful presence in the education community.  In fact, during my first visit to SPU, I could feel the same sense of community, rigor, and spiritual connectedness that I felt at the Catholic high school where I was teaching.  I genuinely feel fortunate to have found SPU as a fit for my educational, professional, and personal goals.

Now, as a professional pursuing a doctoral degree, I am committed to innovation and change in terms of teacher preparation and support, especially in light of the high attrition rate of new teachers.  This means raising the standards within the profession and teaching teachers as they should teach their own students.  I am committed to producing better teachers by maintaining my own research and modeling the latest instructional techniques. SPU has allowed me to pursue these goals.  Additionally, the faculty members at SPU have always treated me as a respected colleague and I greatly value their expertise.  SPU and the School of Education have far exceeded my expectations and I would recommend this institution to anyone seeking more than an academic degree. 

Amy is a student in the Ph.D. in Education program at SPU. She earned a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Atmospheric Science from the University of Louisiana at Monroe, post-baccalaureate teacher certification in mathematics at Texas Tech University, and a Master’s of Arts from Notre Dame de Namur University. She taught high school mathematics in Texas and California and currently serves as an Clinical Instructor of Teacher Education at SPU.

Doctoral Programs at SPU: A Current Student’s Perspective

By Robin Henrikson

The coursework at SPU for my doctoral program has been quite fulfilling. To be perfectly honest, I have learned more than I thought I would and have been challenged to grow in many ways, including improvement in my knowledge about my specialization, growth in my writing skills and in my ability to understand statistics. Perhaps most important has been growth in my self-confidence and in my ability to critically examine new research, initiatives and programs to help advise and support educators in making decisions about programs for their schools.

My area of specialization is in professional development and pre-service teacher preparation. I have been able to design a doctoral program that met my needs with a combination of coursework, independent study and hands-on experiences that will enable me to be prepared to work in a variety of positions within my area of expertise once I have completed the program. One of the main reasons I wanted to pursue my Ph.D was to help support leaders in the improvement of their schools and to support pre-service, novice and experienced teachers so they are competent and prepared to be effective teachers.

This program has been challenging and I have had to learn how to be disciplined. Balancing school, part-time work as a math and professional development specialist as well as a wife and mother of three young children is no simple task, not to mention the more than two hour commute one way just to take classes. However, throughout my time in this program so far, I have had support from different professors, each offering me a different way to grow through their unique teaching styles. I have also built great relationships amongst other doctoral students. The flexibility of taking night, weekend and online classes has allowed me to pursue my degree whereas I would not have been able to without that type of coursework design.

I am happy with my experiences at SPU and once I am finished with my program I will be a stronger person in many ways including academically, emotionally and professionally. I thank God for the support He has given me throughout the past two years.

When I am finished with this program my goals are to pursue a career working at a university where I can continue to support teachers, whether they are at the beginning of their career or a veteran. I feel confident that this program has prepared me to do that.

Robin Henrikson is a student in SPU’s Ph.D. in Education program. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Western Washington University and a master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Seattle Pacific University. She holds Washington state certification in Special Education K-12, General Education K-8, and Building Principal. Robin served as a middle school special education and mathematics classroom teacher before becoming a teacher leader. She currently works as a Professional Development Specialist for the Olympic Educational Service District 114 in Bremerton, WA. She is married and the mother of three children.

Distinguished Doctoral Graduates

Since the inception of doctoral programs at SPU, there have been a number of graduates who distinguished themselves professionally. In this post, four of our graduates are highlighted.

Dr. Gary Newbill earned a Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.) from SPU in 1999. He currently serves Northwest University as Professor of Education and Dean of the School of Education. He previously served Washington school districts in a variety of roles including as teacher, personnel director, assistant superintendent, and superintendent. Gary Newbill joined the graduate faculty of educational leadership at Seattle Pacific University, preparing principal and superintendent candidates for state certification and graduate degrees. He then moved to Northwest University to head its teacher preparation program. http://www.northwestu.edu/faculty/newbill/

Dr. Mary Alice Heuschel earned the Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.) degree from SPU in 2004. She currently serves as superintendent of the Renton School District. She was previously Deputy State Superintendent for the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction for six years. Dr. Heuschel also served as a school principal, assessment specialist, and classroom teacher. Mary Alice was awarded the 2011 Washington Superintendent of the Year.

http://www.rentonschools.us/FILES/DISTRICT/Superintendent/MAH_Bio_updated_1-6-11.pdf

Dr. Duane Baker is the founder and president of Baker Evaluation, Research, and Consulting, Inc (The BERC Group). Dr. Baker served as a classroom teacher, school administrator, and assistant superintendent in K-12 schools. The BERC group is currently working on research and evaluation projects at the national, state, regional, district, school, classroom, and student levels in over 1,000 schools nationally. He earned a doctorate from Seattle Pacific University in 1999.

http://www.bercgroup.com/

Dr. Shannon Harvey is currently the Principal of Cascade Elementary School in the Renton School District, Renton, Washington. She previously served as an elementary school teacher. She earned a Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.) from SPU in 2000. In 2008, she was given the $25,000 Milken Educator Award.

http://cascade.rentonschools.us/PrincipalsMessage

Update on Recent Faculty Research and Publishing Activities

The core doctoral faculty in the School of Education at SPU are active researchers. We believe that pursuit of an active research and publishing agenda is critical for mentoring doctoral students. Below is a sample of some of our most recent publications. Detailed information about our research interests and copies of our curriculum vita can be found on the School of Education’s website.

Recent work by Dr. Lumpe

Lumpe, A. T., Czerniak, C. M., Haney, J. J., & Beltyukova, S. (2011). Beliefs about Teaching Science: The Relationship between Elementary Teachers’ Professional Development and Student Achievement. International Journal of Science Education. (PDF)

Abstract

Because of increasing calls for school accountability, an increased emphasis placed on the role of the teacher, and theoretical connections between teacher beliefs and classroom action, a critical need exists to examine teacher professional development programs to determine their impact on teacher belief systems, teaching practices, and student learning. The primary goal of this study was to assess elementary teachers’ science teaching efficacy as they participated in a large scale professional development program and to determine the relationship of these beliefs with student learning. It was found that elementary teachers who participated in a long-term, intense (over 100 contact hours annually) science professional development program displayed significant gains in their science teaching self-efficacy. Several background variables were found to be predictive of teacher beliefs including how often teachers spend teaching science. Males tended to display more positive beliefs than their female counterparts. Although a small portion of the variance was explained, teacher beliefs and the number of hours participating in the research-based professional development program were significantly predictive of students’ science achievement. Other factors may be involved in teachers’ beliefs and their connection with student learning including classroom practices, curriculum materials, support systems, and student background variables. These factors should be the target of future investigations.

Butler, K., & Lumpe, A. T. (2009). Student Use of Scaffolding Software: Relationships with Motivation and Conceptual Understanding. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 17(5), 427-436.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Recent work by Dr. Sink

Sink, C. A. (Ed.). (2011). Mental health interventions for school counselors. Belmont, CA: Brooks-Cole.

Webb, M. Sink, C. A., et al. (2010). The Suffering with God Scale: Theoretical development, psychometric analyses, and relationships with indices of religiosity. Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 21, 71-94.

Abstract

Religion provides resources to cope with negative life events, yet people may still struggle with God. The Suffering with God Scale (SWG) was developed to assess schematic representations of, and affective responses to, God in light of negative life events. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in a two-factor solution reflecting two underlying dimensions: Struggling with God and Enduring with God.  Struggling with God was negatively associated, and Enduring was positively associated, with theism, religious participation, personal devotions, and intrinsic religiosity.  Persons who were unsure of their faith in God reported greater struggle over issues of suffering than those who reported high or low faith. Results are interpreted in light of psychology of religion research and philosophical and theological reflection regarding the problem of suffering for sustenance of faith.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Recent work by Dr. Ellis

Ellis, A. (2010). Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Together: Reflective Assessments for Elementary Classrooms. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

Zirkle, D., and Ellis, A. (2010). Effects of Spaced Repetition on Long-Term Map Knowledge Recall. Journal of Geography. (5) 109.

Abstract

Sixth-grade students studying Latin America were placed in experimental and comparison groups to test the effects of map-study repetition on long-term memory. Mean scores on a place-name test of the region indicated that the experimental (repetition) group outperformed the comparison group at a statistically significant level with respect to both posttest and retention-test outcomes. The tentative conclusion of long-term potentiation principles in the classroom modestly suggests that a salient step in creating more persistent declarative memories is protein-synthesis dependent repetition.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Recent work by Dr. Nagy

 

Berninger, V., Abbott, R., Nagy, W., & Carlisle, J.  (2010). Growth in phonological, orthographic, and morphological awareness in grades 1 to 6. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 39, 141-163.

 

Nagy, W., & Hiebert, E. (2011).  Toward a theory of word selection.  In M. L. Kamil, P. D. Pearson,  E. B. Moje, & P. P. Afflerbach (Eds.), Handbook of Reading Research, Volume IV (pp.388-404).   New York:  Routledge.

 

Beers, S. F., & Nagy, W. E. (2011). Writing development in four genres from grades three to seven:  syntactic complexity and genre differentiation.   Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 24, 183-202.

 

Berninger, V. W., Nagy, W., & Beers, S. (2011).  Child writers’ construction and reconstruction of single sentences and construction of multi-sentence texts: contributions of syntax and transcription to translation.  Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 24, 151-182.

 

 Abstract for Nagy & Hiebert, 2011:

 

One of the tasks facing educators is deciding which of the many potentially difficult or unfamiliar words in a text students are about to read need to be taught.  The purpose of this chapter is to provide a principled basis for making these choices.  The use and limitations of eight features that can play a role in word selection are discussed:  The frequency of the word in the language, dispersion (distribution of the word across different subject areas), morphological and semantic relatedness to other words, familiarity of the word to students, conceptual difficulty, the role of the word in the particular text, and its role in the larger curriculum.

Nagy, W. (2010). The word games. In M. G. McKeown & L. Kucan (Eds.). Bringing reading research to life (pp.72-91). New York: Guilford.

Looking for Doctoral Program? : Seattle Pacific University is the right place. by Whitney E. Meissner, Ed.D. 2008.

A part of me has always known I would obtain a doctorate degree at some point. Had you asked me 20 years ago, I would have been definitive that I would pursue this education outside the state of Washington. However, when the time came to choose a program, I had two young children, aged 5 and 3 when I began, and I knew it was more important to stay close to home.

Several factors went into my choice of Seattle Pacific University. The first was somewhat simple: a friend of mine and I had decided to approach this adventure together, and she had a previous experience with SPU’s Educational Leadership program. I should say, she has a previous phenomenal experience. That, in and of itself, was enough to encourage me to apply. As I learned more about the program, several other advantages became clear. The option of some online courses appealed to me given I live on the west side of Puget Sound in Jefferson County. Further, the cohort design of the program encouraged a shared and collaborative learning experience. The emphasis on empirical research coupled with practical application was also a bonus. The fact that most courses were held on Saturdays fit well with my work and family schedule. And, perhaps the greatest benefit for me was the practical application of the knowledge and activities. I am confident that each course I completed improved my leadership skills, and that my experience in successfully completed my Ed.D. is a benefit to myself professionally, but more importantly, to the staff, students, and families I serve.

On a personal note, I gained life-long friendships with the peers in my cohort as well as deep professional relationships with the professors in the program. Having completed my degree in 2008, I have found numerous opportunities to reach out to those with whom I worked so closely while in this program. I am sincerely grateful that I was invited to join the SPU community as an adjunct professor. This opportunity continues to enhance my leadership and research skills.

This was undoubtedly the most rigorous educational experience I have ever had. With an undergraduate degree in English with a math minor, I thrive on both literature and numbers. I can honestly say I never worked harder on something than this program, but one of the reasons that the hard work was, in a sense, easy was that it was both intellectually stimulating and professionally relevant. Further, when things got hard, intellectually or emotionally, there were many, many supportive people there to lend a hand.

I cannot say enough about the wonderful experience I had. I recommend SPU to all those looking to enter education as well as those already in the field looking to “walk the talk”, so to speak, and further their own learning, skills, and knowledge.

Whitney E. Meissner, Ed.D.

Principal, Chimacum Middle & High School

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/willhale/3640684126/sizes/s/,

Benefits of a Doctoral Degree: Professional and Personal – by Laurynn Evans, Ed.D.

I initially began my doctoral journey solely for intrinsic reasons.  As a person who simply enjoys the process of learning, pursuing an advanced degree was a natural step in my life journey.  Well, that, and I also made a promise to my grandmother that no matter what it took, I would obtain my doctorate sometime during my adult life.  My doctoral journey was something that I was doing just for myself, just because I wanted to experience that particular level of challenge and engagement. 

I knew that I’d learn a lot during the course of my studies at SPU, and I knew that my studies would also further my understanding of theory and knowledge as it applies to education in general.  What I never really anticipated, however, was how useful and applicable my learning in doctoral program would be to my career.  I’m happy to report that I have been pleasantly surprised at how much I have put my learning to work in my day-to-day work life.  My doctorate has benefitted me in ways big and small in my professional pursuits, and for that I am doubly grateful that I persevered and completed the doctoral program at SPU.

Yes, it is true that having the letters “Ed.D.” after one’s name is a nice plus when you are a brand new building principal.  Staff, colleagues, parents, and even kids seem to hold a hefty respect for that level of educational pursuit.  That fact, in and of itself, has been a nice side benefit of my decision to complete the program.  There just seems to be an inherent respect for a person who undertakes and completes a rigorous course of study from a well-respected program such as the one offered by SPU’s School of Education.  However, the true professional benefit of having my doctorate runs deeper than just providing others with a positive perception of my ability. 

Prior to undertaking my doctorate, I had a basic knowledge of theory and relevant literature for the field of education, but now, I truly own the knowledge.  In talking with staff, parents, or colleagues, I have an extensive learned knowledge base that I can pull from at any time, because after the intensive degree of research offered by the program, I now just “know” the information.  Furthermore, I’m able to distill credible researchers and theorists from those who lack a basis for their conclusions.  Even more important, I am able to concisely and clearly articulate why one theorist has credence while another may not, and I can do so without jargon or confusion.  This has been enormously helpful as my building leadership team discusses pedagogical decisions for our team.  I also learned the art of staying current on research trends, which I know will pay enormous dividends as my career progresses. 

Another essential benefit to my work is the fact that the strong statistics emphasis provided in the SPU program has translated into my being able to guide my staff through assessment results in a way that I was not able to do previously.  In this era of growing accountability for student performance, understanding the way in which assessments are crafted and evaluated is of paramount importance.   Our discussions about state testing data and results were made more applicable and meaningful to our staff and students because I had the ability to clarify just what the results meant and how they translated into gains for student achievement.  I was also able to take complicated results and craft trend data that was eminently more useful in our building discussions.  Being able to handle staff questions about testing data, even highly detailed questions, felt very empowering to me and it clearly gave the staff confidence in my abilities as an instructional leader.    

I began my doctoral work with the goal of making myself a better person and offering myself the opportunity to engage in extended and meaningful discourse with like-minded students.  I concluded my doctoral work realizing thatthe experience transcended all of my expectations.  Yes, I became a better person, and yes, I ended the program with a wonderful cohort of intelligent and dedicated educators whom I now call my friends.  However, the journey transcended my expectations due to how it is benefitting not just me, but how it’s also benefitting my school community.  I am already witnessing the ripple effect of this on my staff and students.  It is my hope that I can continue to translate those small ripples into greater and greater effects on the achievement of my students.

Laurynn Evans, Ed.D.

Principal

Rose Hill Junior High School

Stella Schola Middle School

levans@lwsd.org / 425.881.2079

photo credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/catspyjamasnz/