Education Commons^™

Civic Engagement Scholars Initiative (Cesi), Camille Martinez-Krawiec

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

UMass Boston received a Performance Incentive Fund grant to institutionalize and increase teaching and learning that promotes civic and community engagement. Specifically the funds are being used to support the implementation of the Civic Engagement Scholars Initiative (CESI), which supports faculty and community partners on how to effectively engage undergraduate students in service-learning and community-based research activities that reinforce classroom learning, foster civic habits and skills, and address community-identified needs. This enhancement will be accomplished through implementation of a professional development program that improves the efficacy and assessment of faculty-driven community-engaged instruction and undergraduate research. CESI, as part of the …

Latino Leadership Initiative (Lli), Liliana Mickle

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The purpose of the Latino Leadership Initiative is to help develop a cadre of next generation leaders from and for the Latino(a) community. The LLI annually serves up to 50 of the nation’s most promising undergraduates with demonstrated interest in serving the Latino(a)community. The partner schools sending cohorts are Miami Dade College, UMass Boston, Texas A&M International University, University of California at Merced, University of Texas-Pan American, Loyola Marymount, City University of New York and the University of Houston. Objectives of the LLI are: to enhance the leadership capacity of students committed to serving the Latino community; to help participants …

Success Boston: College Completion Initiative, Liliana Mickle

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

2008: Initiative launches in response to Northeastern University study finding – only 35.5% of Boston Public School (BPS) graduates enrolled in college earned an Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree within 7 years (despite BPS having one of the highest college enrollment rates in country).

2010: 38 colleges/universities in MA accepted UMass Boston Chancellor Keith Motley’s invitation to join the initiative (25 submitted specific plans). Chancellor Motley is co-chair of Mayor’s Success Boston Task Force.

July 2010: UMass Boston implements Success Boston Embedded Model: Collaboration with American Student Assistance (ASA), Freedom House Inc., Bottom Line and Hyde Square Task Force to provide …

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (Olli): A Program Of The Gerontology Institute, Wichian Rojanawon, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at UMass Boston is the largest lifelong learning program in Massachusetts. It was established in 1999 as a learning community to enrich the intellectual, social, and cultural lives of adults aged 50 and older. One of our objectives is to build a sense of community – a social connection among members. In additions to our courses, we offer this opportunity through several social events a year: a holiday party, a Boston harbor cruise, museum trips, attendance at theatre events, overnight trips, and international trips. OLLI has helped the university to secure over $4 million …

University Of Massachusetts Boston Upward Bound, Lizette Rivera

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Upward Bound is an intensive, year-round college-prep program. Our mission is to assist low-income and / or first-generation college bound high school students in the successful completion of secondary education. We strive to prepare our students academically and socially towards the enrollment and completion of higher education. Upward Bound offers services to students through an after-school program at UMass-Boston during the school year and a six-week summer residential academic program.

Eastern Pequot Archaeological Field School, 2003 - 2013, Stephen W. Silliman

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Eastern Pequot Archaeological Field School began in 2003 as a cooperative effort between Anthropology Professor Stephen Silliman and the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation, a Native American community in southeastern Connecticut. It uses a six-credit summer archaeological field course to achieve four objectives set within a model of community-engaged scholarship.

Upward Bound Math-Science At Umass Boston, Terri Slater

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Upward Bound Math-Science (UBMS) strives to increase the number of low-income and first-generation college bound students who enroll in and complete higher education programs, majoring in mathematics, the sciences, and computer science. UBMS aims to increase the number who pursues advanced study in these fields. UBMS serves students enrolled in the six academies that comprise the Lawrence High School Complex.

The Early Intervention (Ei) Scholars Program, Angi Stone-Macdonald, Anne Douglass

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The University of Massachusetts Boston has developed an integrated, research-based early intervention concentration in our Early Education and Care Inclusive Settings (EECIS) bachelor’s degree program. The program involves collaboration with partners in early childhood education (EC) and early intervention (EI) in the Greater Boston region; addresses the need for more high quality, culturally and linguistically diverse early intervention specialists.

The Talented And Gifted (Tag) Latino Program: Providing Holistic Support To Boston Students In Grades 6-12 Through Programming Focused On The Development Of Academic Skills, Leadership Skills And Community Building, Ilyitch Nahiely Tábora, Institute For Learning & Teaching, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Talented And Gifted (TAG) Latino Program has served the academic, personal and social needs of Boston Public Schools middle and high schools Latino students and English Language Learners since 1985. TAG offers holistic, year-round support to approximately 600 students annually. Boston Public School (BPS) Latino students and English Language Learners (ELL) excel academically, socially and personally, so as to improve their ability to succeed in high school and at the postsecondary level.

Beacon Voyages For Service: 2013 Alternative Spring Break Trip To The Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, Sherrod Williams

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

This March, fourteen UMass Boston students traveled to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota to address the pressing issues of poverty faced by the Oglala Lakota people by assisting in construction efforts such as repairing stairwells, building children’s bunk beds, and installing protective skirting around mobile homes to help increase the overall quality of life on the reservation. In conjunction with the service work, special attention was placed on fostering relationships and participating in a cultural exchange with the Oglala Lakota community that has created awareness about the tribulations faced by the United States of America’s most disadvantaged …

Social Equality And Environmental Education In Brazil, Sherrod Williams

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Beacon Voyages for Service (BVS) is a program within the Office of Student Leadership and Community Engagement that coordinates Alternative Break programs. BVS Brazil traveled to Porto Alegre. This group of students partnered with “The Brazilian Association of Cultural Exchange (ABIC)” and the Center for Environmental Education to learn about the social problems that affect the citizens of Brazil and tackle issues of waste management. The students work alongside community members in a recycling unit and spend many hours working with local youth.

Building Sustainability In Rural Puerto Rico, Sherrod Williams

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Beacon Voyages for Service (BVS) is a program within the Office of Student Leadership and Community Engagement that coordinates Alternative Break programs. BVS Puerto Rico traveled to Las Marias, Puerto Rico. This group of students partnered with Plenitud Eco-Educational Initiatives to learn about sustainability through organic farming and permaculture practices in rural areas of Puerto Rico.

Highlights And Impacts: 2012 Naisa Conference & Other Events, J. Cedric Woods, Institute For New England Native American Studies, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) is the premier organization for scholars in Native and Indigenous Studies, representing numerous indigenous peoples and their non-indigenous allies. The Institute for New England Native American Studies (INENAS) played a key role in planning 2012 conference, with Director Cedric Woods serving as co-chair of Executive Host Committee.

Culturally Relevant Resources To Meet The Changing Priorities Of Tribal Communities, J. Cedric Woods, Institute For New England Native American Studies, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The mission of INENAS is to develop collaborative relationships, projects, and programs between Native American tribes of the New England region and all of the UMass campuses so that the tribes may participate in and benefit from university research, innovation, scholarship, and education. As the interests, needs, and demographics of Native New England shift, these changing priorities will be reflected in its programming, grant submissions, and outreach efforts.

Maximizing The Learning Outcomes Of Cocurricular Civic Engagement In Higher Education, Jeremy Poehnert

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

My experience as an undergraduate college student was marked by many challenges. A constant source of support throughout that time was my participation in cocurricular community service activities – without those experiences I would never have completed my degree. After graduating I pursued a career in which I could continue my involvement with such programs, which, for the purposes of this paper, I will refer to as higher education civic engagement (HECE). There has been one issue that I have been particularly drawn to in HECE work — how to maximize what students learn when they participate in cocurricular civic …

Managing From The Middle, Lisa Williams

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

How can middle managers successfully improve work conditions and performance of their staff as part of becoming a better manager? This synthesis reviews relevant literature to develop five key principles in my argument: Motivation is the key, the change process begins with me, change is an ongoing and fluid process, middle managers have a need for team and middle managers play different roles during team building. I have also developed a handy booklet for the middle manager to use in changing their management style, which is included as Appendix. The booklet first briefly explains the principles. It then discusses four …

The Development And Use Of Online Modules For Professional Development In Early Childhood Education, Angi Stone-Macdonald, Anne Douglass, Marylu Love, Institute For Community Inclusion, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The goals of this program is to examine the role of online training modules in professional development for early childhood educators, to understand the technological capacity of the early childhood workforce for using online professional development and to examine the challenges/barriers to the field in using online professional development and technology-mediated learning.

Women @ Work Program, Eleanor Brown, Raymond Tse, Apurva Mehta

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The St. Mary’s Women @ Work program partners with the Department of IT at UMass Boston to provide young women with a path to self sufficiency. It does so by placing these youth for a 3 month period, in a real-work environment where they get paid and receive hands-on practical training.

Eastern Pequot Archaeological Field School, Steven Silliman

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

This project assists with locating historical cultural sites on Eastern Pequot reservation established in A.D 1683, and providing historical preservation and archaeological services at low to no cost to this Native American community. This project also trains undergraduate and graduate students from UMass Boston and other institutions and tribal community interns in archaeological techniques, heritage preservation, Native American history, colonial studies and collaborative research methods. It aims to improve archaeological fieldwork and interpretations as part of a deeply collaborative relationship, and also study Eastern Pequot house sites, using artifacts, animal bones , plant remains, architecture, landscape historical documents and oral …

Enrollment And Academic Outcomes Of English Language Learners In Pre-K To Grade 3 In The Boston Public Schools, Sy2009: Data Points For A Discussion At Wheelock College, Miren Uriarte, Faye Karp

Gastón Institute Publications

This brief report focuses on the enrollment, characteristics and academic outcomes of English Language Learners in Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 3 in comparison with those of English proficient students and all students at these grade levels. The purpose of the report is to generate discussion about ways in which the learning needs of these students can best be met. As proposed, the report consists primarily of data tables and annotations organized around five sets of questions.

First-Generation Students’ Pathways To A Baccalaureate, Yolanda Avidano

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

The pathway to college for most low-income first-generation students can seem impracticable and impossible to achieve. This diverse population has caused much apprehension among educational administrators and practitioners about how to serve these students effectively. As an educational practitioner working with this population I am especially interested in uncovering the “state of affairs” regarding first-generation college students in general, and low income first generation students in particular, and how I might be a catalyst of positive and effective change as I serve them. My synthesis reviews published literature that reveals the “state of affairs” regarding first generation students. I address …

Serendipity And Persistence: A Journey Building A Rich Music-Making Culture In Public Schools, Constance Cook

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

I am a music teacher in the public schools. This synthesis project presents a Practitioner’s Portfolio to convey my efforts over the last decade and more in pursuit of a rich culture of music in public schools. Readers should see someone who persists when faced with personal, pedagogical, intellectual, and institutional challenges. Moreover, that persistence is conducive of the serendipity through which opportunities open up to be an agent of change. What is also evident to me as I assembled the Portfolio was that the Kodály model of artist, scholar, and pedagogue seems to have been the underpinning for much …

The Massachusetts Early Education And Care Professional Development System Study: Year 1 Report, Anne Douglass, Lucinda Heimer, Winifred Hagan

Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publication Series

The purpose of this report is to present the findings from the first year of the Massachusetts Professional Development System Study (MA PDS). This study examined the implementation of Massachusetts' new statewide model for professional development of the early education and care and out of school time workforce. The study was funded by the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC).

This study examined the process of implementation of the new professional development system between August 2010 and June 2011. Implementation research is important because it provides insights into whether a new system is operating as intended and identifies …

Building A Learning Community For Dental Hygiene Faculty, Nancy Baccari

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

Have you ever felt isolated in your work environment that left you feeling perplexed and stuck only to find out that colleagues felt the same way you did but had no idea to work around it? Through this practioner’s narrative, I journey through my struggle of teacher isolation to my action plan to make it better. Finding a way to identify my feelings, strengths and weaknesses and move towards change to improve my own work environment describes my experience in the Critical and Creative Thinking (CCT) graduate program. This new awareness changed the way I see myself as a leader …

A Nerche Annual Report: Profiles Of Public Engagement: Findings From The Ernest A. Lynton Award For The Scholarship Of Engagement For Early Career Faculty, John Saltmarsh, Elaine C. Ward, Patti H. Clayton

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

Community-campus engagement has evolved significantly over the past quarter century, shaped by a number of factors. One has been the effort to reclaim the civic mission of American higher education. Frank Newman, while at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in the early 1980s, asserted that "the most critical demand is to restore to higher education its original purpose of preparing graduates for a life of involved and committed citizenship,” and concluded that “the advancement of civic learning, therefore, must become higher education's most central goal" (1985, xiv). Another factor has been the increased understanding that colleges and …

Applying Critical And Creative Thinking In Teaching Buddhism, Doan Van Thua

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This synthesis describes my journey preparing myself for teaching Buddhism in a way that moves beyond traditional approaches of transmitting information to students. I describe learning, teaching activities, tools, and methodologies using critical and creative thinking that can be applicable to Buddhist education. I describe some changes towards more interactive modes of teaching and progress in teaching I have made so far in my teaching Sunday school for children, in public teaching, and in giving instruction to Buddhist groups. Some further expectations and some defects in my teaching that need improvement are noted. A Buddhist is not a blind follower, …

Navigating The Complexities In Teaching, Marie Levey-Pabst

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

As a student in the Critical and Creative Thinking Program I have learned about ways of thinking that have greatly impacted how I teach my high school students as well as how I think about my own teaching. Over the past year I have sought out teachers to interview to help me expand my understanding about how teachers make thoughtful decisions given the complex realities they face. Through analyzing these teachers' reflections on their thoughts and experiences I have discovered ways of opening my own thinking as well as patterns in productive teacher thinking that could help many other teachers …

Bringing Community College Students And Employers Together: A Guide For Employers And Career Centers In An Economic Decline, Jeffrey Craig

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This paper emerges from my work as Coordinator of Job Placement at Bristol Community College over the last 19 months, in which I have had the opportunity to try new approaches to problem-solving and pursue professional growth as I serve students in higher education. The recent economic crisis has left millions of Americans out of work across most sectors. Displaced workers are flocking to community colleges to upgrade and learn new skills with the goal of becoming more marketable to potential employers. Enrollments have soared, while costs have risen and budgets cut. These conditions place an undue burden on these …

Social Action Teaching: Engaging Middle School Students In Knowing And Doing In The Social Studies Classroom, Alyssa Hinkell

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

For the past three years I have had countless opportunities to engage in rich thinking around teaching and learning. As a member of the Critical and Creative Thinking Program (CCT) at the University of Massachusetts, Boston I have been able to reflect on these experiences in the context of my own teaching, applying what I have learned to enrich my own craft. Over the past eight months I have devoted this thinking to a teaching method I call Social Action Teaching. This method has helped to engage and motivate my seventh grade students and I believe, if applied elsewhere, can …

Incorporating Service-Learning Into The Esl Curriculum: What Aspiring Practitioners Need To Know, Andres R. Reyes

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

As an ESL teacher at a community college, my constant goal is to synergize teaching approaches and strategies so that in addition to maximizing students' language learning, their critical thinking skills, cultural competence, and reflectivity - as members of an increasingly growing multicultural society - are heightened. Most recently, I have been pursuing service-learning as a philosophy, pedagogy, and practice that can help students connect their classroom learning to concrete, exciting, and challenging learning situations beyond the classroom. This paper is an attempt to highlight service-learning as a powerful tool that can make a difference in students' lives as they …