Education Commons^™

Why Service-Learning?, Audrey Trussell, Katie Elliott

Division of Community Engagement Resources

Data from VCU's "High Impact Practices (HIPS) Assessment Model: 2015-16 Pilot Mid-Year Report" offers three compelling reasons for why service-learning matters for student success.

2015-2016 Service-Learning Impact Measure Report, Samantha Poelstra

Division of Community Engagement Resources

The VCU Service-Learning Office distributes the Service-Learning Impact Measure (SLIM) at the end of every semester to evaluate the impact of service-learning classes on student learning. Results are used to guide professional development opportunities, as well as to further improve the quality of and recruit additional tenure-line faculty members to teach designated service-learning classes.

Different Tools For Different Tasks: Strategies For Assessing Student Learning From Civic Engagement At The Student, Program, And Institutional Levels, Lynn E. Pelco

Division of Community Engagement Resources

This presentation was given at the SCHEV Civic Engagement Education and Assessment meeting on June 9, 2017.

2015-16 Service-Learning Impact Measure Report (Infographic), Audrey Trussell, Katie Elliott

Division of Community Engagement Resources

No abstract provided.

Service-Learning Community Partner Impact Assessment Report, Jennifer Jettner, Lynn Pelco, Katie Elliott

Division of Community Engagement Resources

In the summer of 2017, VCU’s Office of Service-Learning conducted an evaluation of the impact of service-learning on community partner organizations. This assessment aimed to collect actionable feedback from partners and to inform improvements to service-learning courses at VCU that successfully address partners’ concerns. An external researcher conducted phone interviews with a representative sample of 22 community partners. Partners were asked how a specific service-learning course impacted their organization in three areas: organizational capacity, economically, and socially. Partners were also asked about faculty interactions and the likelihood of recommending the service-learning course to other organizations like their own. This report …

2017-18 Guide For Participants: Virginia Commonwealth University Peer Mentoring Program, Lynn E. Pelco, Cristina Stanciu

Division of Community Engagement Resources

The Peer Mentoring Program Guide for Participants provides information for both university faculty mentees and their faculty mentors to help establish and develop a productive mentoring relationship. This Guide is the handbook for the Virginia Commonwealth University Peer Mentoring Program, which seeks to support early career faculty members, enabling them to succeed and thrive in the academy as both scholars and educators. The VCU Peer Mentoring program is part of the VCU Office of Faculty Affairs.

Creating, Collaborating And Adapting: Implementing A Decentralized Youth Policy, Tina C. Carter, Alyssa King

Division of Community Engagement Resources

The first year implementing a new policy on campus comes with unique opportunities as well as challenges in ensuring appropriate controls and protections for minors. A decentralized policy can often highlight these barriers, but can also create space for innovation. When a policy is located in departments like human resources and risk management infrastructures designed to bolster policies and manage liability are present. For policies in non-traditional areas of higher education, the journey to a sustainable policy model requires a different approach. Virginia Commonwealth University’s policy, Safety and Protection of Minors, is located under the Division of Community Engagement, within …

The Emerging Role Of Universities In Collective Impact Initiatives For Community Benefit, Jason Smith, Lynn E. Pelco, Alex Rooke

Division of Community Engagement Resources

Universities are increasing their efforts to more clearly demonstrate their social value. This article illustrates how higher education administrators can incorporate collective impact partnerships in their community benefit strategies. The article explores two of the more familiar paradigms for community benefit—community engagement and anchor institution. Collective impact principles and practices are then presented. Finally, a case study provides a tangible example of how one university’s role in a collective impact initiative transitioned in response to the community. We end the article with ten takeaways and an invitation for higher education administrators to identify their own learning and action steps that …

Expanding Approaches To Teaching For Diversity And Social Justice In K-12 Education: Fostering Global Citizenship Across The Content Areas, Ariel Tichnor-Wagner, Hillary Parkhouse, Jocelyn Glazier, Jessie Montana Cain

Teaching and Learning Publications

Educators today must be able to respond to the needs of an increasingly diverse student body and to teach all students the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed for civic participation in a globalized, pluralist society. While state departments of education and national teacher organizations have begun to adopt global awareness in their teaching standards and evaluation tools, there is a Fostering global citizenship across content areas2need for educators to understand what globally competent teachers actually do in classrooms across subject areas and grade levels. This qualitative, multiple case study explores the signature pedagogies (Shulman, 2005) of 10 in-service teachers in …

I Hate/Don’T Hate/Still Hate Group Projects! A Tripartite Ethical Framework For Enhancing Student Collaboration, Jeffrey W. Murray

Focused Inquiry Publications

Students often say they hate group projects, because they don’t want their grade held hostage by someone else’s effort (or lack thereof) and/or because they’ve had the experience previously of having to do other people’s work for them. For the instructor, the challenge is to figure out how to provide students with the valuable lessons and learning experience of collaborative work while avoiding the common pitfalls. How should one, and how can one, balance individual accountability—one’s grade is a reflection of one’s own work—with the shared responsibility of meaningful collaborative work—one’s grade is a reflection of the group’s effort and …

Lessons On Citizenship And Democratic Power Literacy From Undocumented Youth, Hillary Parkhouse

Teaching and Learning Publications

To create a society in which power is more equally accessible, we must teach our youth not only about civics and government, but also how to use political tools in order to effect social change. In this essay, I argue for teaching power literacy in place of traditional citizenship education on the grounds that the former has greater potential for increasing students’ political efficacy and their abilities to apply knowledge of civics to the real-world issues that affect them. To illustrate the concept of power literacy, I draw on a case study of a grassroots, undocumented youth activist organization fighting …

Understanding And Assessing What We Accomplish With Our Community Partners, Valerie Holton

Division of Community Engagement Resources

No abstract provided.

Cumu Annual Conference, Jennifer Early, Catherine Howard

Division of Community Engagement Resources

The VCU Division of Community Engagement mobilizes university-community partnerships that generate innovative solutions to societal challenges and prepares the engaged citizens of tomorrow; they host the CUMU Conference (Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities) annually. Students, faculty, and community partners collaborate to effect positive change in social, organizational, and economic impact. Value Propositions are created to clearly summarize the value that students add to an organization, and the relevance and distinction. This information is complied through assessment, development, and communication.

Contemporary Approaches To Teaching American Indian Art, Melanie L. Buffington

The Melanie Buffington Papers

"In thinking through ways to teach about the art of Native Americans in more contemporary and culturally sensitive ways, focusing on contemporary art of American Indians, while referencing the past, is one approach that I believe may help work against essentialism. In particular, the art of two contemporary artists-Hock E Aye Vi also known as Edgar Heap of Birds and Teri Greeves-offers many possibilit ies for teachers." (p. 178)

Vcu Peer Mentoring Program: 2017-18 Guide For Participants, Lynn Pelco, Cristina Stanciu

The Peer Mentoring Program Guide for Participants provides information for both university faculty mentees and their faculty mentors to help establish and develop a productive mentoring relationship. This Guide is the handbook for the Virginia Commonwealth University Peer Mentoring Program, which seeks to support early career faculty members, enabling them to succeed and thrive in the academy as both scholars and educators. The VCU Peer Mentoring program is part of the VCU Office of Faculty Affairs.

Vcu's Faculty Status Report - November 2017, Vcu Office Of The Provost

VCU's Faculty Status Report was presented to Faculty Senate in on November 28, 2017.

2017-18 Vcu Faculty Handbook, Vcu Office Of Faculty Affairs

The VCU Faculty Handbook contains information about the university, its campus and the surrounding community. The Handbook is not a complete guide to academics, research and other services, but is intended as a reference guide to orient new and continuing faculty to the university and provides additional sources for information. For detailed school or department information, please reach out to the specific departmental office. The VCU Office of Faculty Affairs is committed to updating the Handbook on a yearly basis.

Collaborative Instruction For Information Retrieval And Appraisal Skills In Evidence-Based Practice Models For Dental Hygiene Students., Irene M. Lubker, Joan M. Pellegrini

VCU Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Objectives:

1. Collaborate with VCU Dental Hygiene Program faculty to develop and evaluate a model of evidence-based practice (EBP) for students in didactic and clinical settings.

2. Describe how a course was modified to emphasize evidence-based practice.

3. Analyze course evaluations and student scholarly output.

Methods/Materials:

Dental educators strive to develop graduates who practice evidence-based practice and whose clinical decisions are based on current scientific research. A medical librarian was invited to assist in integrating EBP into the dentistry curriculum in 2012. To gain a better understanding of EBP in dental settings, the librarian and dental hygiene faculty attended the …

Why Do Racial Disparities In School Discipline Exist? The Role Of Policies, Processes, People, And Places, Adai Tefera, Genevieve Siegel-Hawley, Rachel Levy

MERC Publications

This brief is part of larger regional study of racial equity in discipline policies and practices conducted by Virginia Commonwealth University’s Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium (MERC). The goal of the broader project is to: (1) analyze racial disproportionality in discipline across the Richmond area, (2) explore various interventions designed to ameliorate disproportionality, and (3) provide recommendations that inform policymaking and practice in the Richmond region. This is the first of two research briefs on racially inequitable school discipline. The subsequent brief will examine the history and theory of action behind different discipline models or interventions, as well as evidence of …

Virginia College Access Resource Study: Region One Report, Amy Corning, Kate Daly, Jesse Senechal

MERC Publications

This research brief shares the results of a MERC study commissioned by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) and supported by Virginia 529 about college access in central Virginia. The purpose of college access providers is discussed as well the current areas of need. A list of access providers in Virginia are listed at the end of the brief.

Essa Research Brief, Samantha Hope

MERC Publications

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): A Research Brief by Samantha Hope, M.T. (March 2017) The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is a modified reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Signed into law on December 10, 2015, it replaces the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 and provides federal guidelines for states regarding various topics in education. This research brief offers an overview of the legislation, as well as its proposed timeline for implementation and implications for schools in the state of Virginia.

School Climate Development Survey, James H. Mcmillan, Charol Shakeshaft, Amy C. Hutton

MERC Publications

Over the last twenty-five years the Consortium on Chicago School Research has engaged in systematic study of more than 400 Chicago Public Schools to determine organizational traits that are related to improvement in student learning. This effort was designed to help explain widely divergent levels of student success between very similar schools in the Chicago system. Initial discussions with educators at all levels, reviews of previous research, pilot studies, and field studies led to the identification of five school contextual factors – the 5Essential Supports – determined to be critical to school success: (1) effective leaders, (2) collaborative teachers, (3) …

Depression In Low-Income Adolescents: Guidelines For School-Based Depression Intervention Programs, Gopika Hari

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

Adolescent depression is growing in interest to clinicians. In addition to the estimated 2 million cases of adolescent major depressive episodes each year, depressive symptoms in youth have become indicators of mental health complications later in life. Studies indicate that being low-income is a risk factor for depression and that socioeconomically disadvantaged teenagers are more than twice as likely to develop mental illnesses. Only an estimated 1 in 4 children with mental illnesses receive adequate help and 80% of these resources come through schools. Thus, this study focuses on establishing the importance of depression intervention programs in low-income high schools …