2 Silber WayBoston, Massachusetts 02215

NonprofitU.S. PostagePAIDBoston MAPermit No. 1839

spring/sUMMEr 2012Boston University School of Education

Hard evidence tHat kids are never too young to tHink about a career (page 8)

exporting democracy: How one prof brings u.s.-style civics ed abroad (page 10)

Plus

Hosts Born Leaders, amBassadors,

sed CheerLeaders, Peer advisors, Community memBers, mentors, sPreadsheet

gurus, Community-minded team BuiLders, PuBLiC sPeakers, team suPPorters,

good Listeners, voLunteers

emily nowak (’13) Dean’s Host and member, SEDgreen and Exceptional

Educators Club

@SEDthe 40th

anniversary of the dean’s

Hosts programsee page 4!

Saturday night’s tribute to BU featuring Keith Lockhart (Hon.’04) and the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra is just one reason why this year’s Alumni Weekend is going to be the biggest and best one ever. Don’t miss it. Register today at

bu.edu/alumniweekend.

Stay in the loop. Spread the word.

remember!It’ll be a

September to

Register today. And tell your friends, too.

alumni weekend

2012BU

September 21–23

facebook.com/BUalumni

twitter.com/BUalumni

linkd.in/BUalumni

B bu.edu/BUniverse

bu.edu/alumni

mycribsheet.com/buaa

bu.edu/alumniweekend

Boston University Alumni Association

Boston University Alumni Association

Alumni Association

sed is raffling off a prize package including an sed t-shirt, water bottle, and other goodies.

Win some sWag, stay connected, and shoW your sed spirit!

You maY be the winner!

To enter, visit www.bu.edu/sed/update-email and update your contact info.

rebecca lopez (’14) Dean’s Host and member,

Deaf Studies ClubJeff fox (’14)

Dean’s Host, BU Culture Shock writer, and member,

Math Educators Club

maggie tittler (’12) Dean’s Host,

Admissions Ambassador, and Dance Marathon Chaircolleen maHany (’15)

Dean’s Host and member, History Educators Club

dean’s

www.bu.edu/sed 1

n e w s& notes

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n e w s& notes Message from the dean

Dear alumni anD FrienDs,As we wade through this election season and continue

to ride the turbulence of the Great Recession, the media and too many political leaders have lost sight of the role educa-tion plays in a successful society. While pundits are quick to lament the public’s lack of scientific knowledge sufficient to empower innovation, lack of critical thinking skills needed to make wise political choices, and lack of literacy and numeracy required to effectively understand and analyze a mortgage agreement, few have pointed out the important role of a strong public education system that prepares citi-zens to live and thrive in this new century. What we learn in schools is critical to our health and future as a nation.

At SED, we are trying to do our part. The Donald D. Durrell Reading & Writing Clinic works with struggling readers to get and keep them on track to becoming fully literate. Our math educators have won a national award from the Noyce Foundation in collaboration with Math for America to increase the number of math teachers in high-needs schools, and we are currently working on a similar grant with the College of Engineering. Professors Jennifer Green (special education) and Melissa Holt (counseling psychology) are developing and implementing programs that reduce bullying in schools. The Center for Character & Social Responsibility, along with Professor Scott Seider (English/language arts), is working on projects intended to develop a more civil society. Professor Charlie White (social studies) traveled to Indonesia in March to lead introductory workshops for a civic education training program.

I want to encourage you to do what you can to sup-port our efforts to improve the quality of education in this country. Support scholarships. Encourage future educators to consider SED. Come to BU events to give us feedback on what we can do to improve. Great schools exist within com-munities of care. Please stay involved to help us stay great.

Sincerely,

Hardin L. K. ColemanDean and Professor, BU School of Education617-353-3213hardin@bu.edu

SPRING/SUMMER 2012

boston university school of education

deanHardin L. K. Coleman

development & alumni relations officerEmily Levy

communications coordinatorNikki Moro (COM’07)

produced by Boston University Creative Services

editor Patrick L. Kennedy (COM’04)

contributing writers Alex Beach (’09), Susan Seligson (COM’80), Corinne Steinbrenner (COM’06), Andrew Thurston

graphic designer Heather S. Burke

Recyclable. 0612 9040018219 Printed on Sustainable Forestry Initiative–certified paper.

Young Alums Teaching Near and FarReports from the field—from Marlborough to Ncwelengwe

evelyn manning (’11, cas’11) is serving in the Peace Corps in South Africa. She teaches seventh-grade English at the Gasebonwe Jantjie Middle School in Ncwelengwe Village, in the country’s Northern Cape Province.

Manning’s students, who are native Setswana speakers, came to her with about a third-grade level of English. Manning had two months to learn Setswana before starting at the school. “Other challenges include the fact that I have 61 learners in my class who sit in three rows of bench/table desks (three to a desk),” she writes, “and no textbooks to speak of.”

In addition, Manning teaches library and computer classes. “This has been especially fun for me, as the kids are so eager to learn,” she writes.

To read Manning’s blog about her Peace Corps experience, visit: wakawakasa.wordpress.com.

HeatHer koHn (’09, ’10) is in the Marlborough, Massachusetts, public school system, where she is teaching in the brand-new MPS STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathemat-ics) Early College High School. The school combines project-based learning with community involvement and internships in STEM-related careers. By the time they graduate, students

contentscover story: Recruiting a Family. The Dean’s Hosts celebrate 40 years of building a community.

evelyn manning and students

Cover photographs by Vernon Doucette

spring/sUMMEr 2012

1

4

2

8

10

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13

news & notes: Young alums teaching near and far.

alumni spotligHt: Meet the recipients of the SED Distinguished Alumni Awards.

researcH: Kimberly Howard researches kids’ career aspirations.

in tHe world: Charles White brings U.S.-style civic ed abroad.

op-ed: The true meaning of sustainability.

snapsHot: The SED community remembers Dan Davis.

may earn up to 16 college credits through Framingham State University.

To learn more, visit: marlborough.schoolfusion.us.

Jay Quarantello iii (’11) is teaching at the Crazy Horse School on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, near the Badlands National Park.

“Reservation schools,” he writes, “are some of the poorest-per-forming schools in the country,” and it’s no exaggeration to trace the problems in Lakota education back to the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. “After the Indians defeated Custer,” Quarantello explains, the U.S. military “crushed the Lakota warriors” and forced their people onto reservations, “damaging a way of life that included following migratory hunting patterns, living as a close-knit village, and educating children through one-on-one teaching.”

For the next century, religious groups controlled reservation education, engendering in the Lakota a deep skepticism of white-run schools. Though that has changed since the 1970s, the reserva-tion still suffers from 85 percent unemployment. “Alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and suicide are much higher here compared to the national average,” says Quarantello. “The U.S. government placed the Lakota in a desolate (yet beautiful) part of the state and failed to provide the means to create a self-sustaining economy; thus there is a perpetual cycle of poverty.”

Despite all that, Quarantello says every day at the Crazy Horse School brings a “glimpse at the human capacity to persevere. Each day students come into school, put their struggles aside, and strive to go to college.” In his classroom, “for the first time in their lives, students are reading complete novels, writing research papers, and applying for colleges and scholarships that had previously been seen as unattainable.”

Schools like his need more good teachers, Quarantello adds. “If BU grads are adventure-oriented and mentally tough, the reserva-tions in South Dakota need you.”◆

➤

➤

the crazy Horse school, pine ridge reservation, south dakota

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www.bu.edu/sed 32 Boston University School of Education | spring/summer 2012

Harris lived to make a junior-college team in Nebraska, then proceeded to BU, where he earned a Most Valuable Backfield Player award—and a BS from SED. He took a job at Hyde Park High that fall. It was 1974, the beginning of court-ordered desegregation in the Boston Public Schools.

“There were riots between black and white kids; there was brick-throwing—it was literally crazy,” Harris recalls. But the young teacher had a gift: “When I spoke, they would listen—the black kids and the white kids.”

Harris has been getting through to underserved kids ever since. In his nearly four decades in education, largely in Roxbury, he has been an award-winning principal, a published scholar, and a sought-after consultant.

Today he runs the Boston Renaissance Charter Public School in Hyde Park. Most of its 1,000 mainly black or Latino students qualify for free or reduced lunch. Harris found that many of their learn-ing problems stemmed from simple vision problems: they needed glasses. The school now partners with New England Eye to provide them with specs and checkups.

Renaissance students are learning Mandarin Chinese, com-puter and business skills, and art and dance as well as the core subjects. “So many schools just focus on the MCAS,” Harris says. “We’ve made a commitment to educate the whole child.”

Over the years, Harris has planted the seeds of college and career success in hundreds of students. “There are a number of kids I taught who are now teachers, judges, businessmen,” he says. “The most rewarding thing is knowing the kids listened, learned, and benefited from my advice.”

a lu m n i spotl i gh t

Ida M. JoHnston aWaRdclifford Janey (’84) grew up in Roxbury, the youngest of a large family. “I benefited by having built-in academic and life coaches in my parents and older brothers and sisters,” he recalls. For sixth grade, Janey attended Dearborn Middle School, “one of the schools used as evidence by [NAACP] lawyers to advance the desegregation case” against the city in the 1960s, Janey says, summing up “the Dun-geon’s” deteriorating condition.

Janey then entered the highly regarded exam school Boston Latin, the nation’s oldest public school. “We had some great teach-ers at Latin School; we had some weak ones, as well,” he says with a laugh. He learned that student success “can’t be framed as a teacher-alone solution or a school-alone solution.”

Working in the Boston system from 1973 to 1995, Janey rose to become chief academic officer before he was hired as superintendent in Rochester, New York, where he worked with the union and city and business leaders to create a successful dropout-prevention program.

“I’ve always been guided by four fundamental principles,” Janey says. “Leadership, collaboration, innovation, and results.”

From 2004 to 2007, Janey was superintendent of schools in Washington, D.C. He had begun implementing a master educa-tion plan when a new mayor let Janey go to create the position of chancellor for the controversial Michelle Rhee, under whom half the district’s teachers and a third of its principals resigned, retired, or were fired, in just two years, from 2007 to 2009. But as Diane Ravitch wrote in the Washington Post, “The gains on the federal reading tests under Rhee were no greater than those under her predecessor, Superintendent Clifford Janey, which were achieved without the firings and angst of the Rhee era. From 2005 to 2007, under Janey, black fourth-grade students made a five-point gain in reading, but they made only a three-point gain under Rhee; Hispanic students made a 13-point gain in reading during Janey’s tenure, but only a one-point gain from 2007 to 2009.”

From there, Janey led the Newark Public Schools, where he part-nered with parents, teachers, and university and business leaders to help boost high schoolers’ math test scores by 10 percentage points and, more important, to “prepare students to be college- and work-ready—and to help them grow as individuals and make good deci-sions personally in the face of some daunting challenges,” he says.

Most recently, he was the Senior Weissman Fellow at the Bank-street College of Education in New York City. He hopes to publish a book this year based on his research and experience.

“People who think education reform is going to happen with a walk-off home run are sadly mistaken,” Janey says. “There’s no magic bullet, no single, untested remedy.” In its laser focus on teacher qual-ity, the reform movement is ignoring the economic and social health of urban neighborhoods, he fears. Turning around schools, Janey says, means “doing the same with the communities in which those schools reside.”

Beating the Odds Meet the recipients of the 2011 SED Distinguished Alumni Awards. by patrick l. kennedy

dean aRtHuR HeRbeRt WIlde aWaRdroger Harris (’74) was sure he would die in Vietnam. As a skinny teenager in Roxbury, he had had his college dreams dashed when a high school football coach refused him a tryout. Losing motiva-tion, Harris began cutting classes and hanging with the wrong crowd. Thanks to his single mother’s pushing, he graduated, but just “barely,” he says. He joined the Marines and volunteered to fight in ’Nam, where his unit took heavy casualties. Finally, he called his mother to say goodbye. But she wouldn’t hear of that.

“I talk to God every day,” she responded. “You are coming back. You are special.”

Harris hung up disappointed, believing his mother was in denial.His attitude changed when he read a Stars and Stripes article

about his old youth-football teammate Freddie Summers, who had become the first “Negro” quarterback in the Atlantic Coast Confer-ence. He wrote to Summers, who responded, urging him to get back to the States, play college football, and get a degree.

That rekindled Harris’s old dream. “I began praying and mak-ing promises to God,” he recalls. If allowed to return and follow Summers’s prescribed path, “I would dedicate my life to assisting economically disadvantaged urban kids like myself.”

dean aRtHuR HeRbeRt WIlde aWaRdvincent murray (’75) is a fifth-generation Atlanta Public Schools employee. “My mother was a teacher, my grandmother was a teacher, my great-grandmother was a teacher, and my great-great-grand-father was a custodian,” he says.

Since 1991, Murray has been principal of the diverse Henry W. Grady High School in Atlanta. When he took the job, more than a third of freshmen were failing and repeating the grade. Seniors’ pass-ing rate on the Georgia graduation test was well below average. But Murray saw potential.

He asked administrators to take on homerooms, allowing the school to shrink homeroom sizes and devote more attention to students. Soon, freshmen were advancing. He instituted Saturday school, to allow failing students to make up some flunked classes during the year, rather than waiting until summer. And he created faculty selection committees, giving teachers a say in new hires. Most recently, Grady High has begun phasing in a new structure of small learning communities, wherein students focus on a career track—often earning certificates in addition to their diploma—in either communications, public policy and justice, business and entrepre-neurship, or biomedical science and technology.

Thanks to the school’s consistent progress, the U.S. Department of Education named it a Title I Distinguished School in 2000, and the governor of Georgia named Murray a High Performance Principal in 2006. Today, Grady’s graduation rate is 91 percent. And four of every five graduates go directly to college, including Ivy Leagues.

“What’s most fulfilling,” says Murray, “is seeing kids move from 9th to 12th grade, graduate, and then finish college and come back and tell me what they’re doing now. That is a very proud moment for me, when I can see the progress they’ve made.” ◆

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clifford Janey

roger Harris (back row, third from

left) and students visit

president and mrs.

obama at the white House.

vincent murray

if you would like to nominate someone for an sED Alumni Award, please visit www.bu.edu/sed/alumni/awards/nominations. nominations are due July 30, 2012.

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C o v e r S t o r y

“the tomato jackets” spring to mind first when you mention the Dean’s Hosts to allison Dalton Griffin (’05, ’09; Cas’05). As a student, she and her fellow hosts received the memorable red fleece zip-ups as a thank-you gift from now-retired associate deans Boyd Dewey (’74, ’79) and Joan Dee (’59, ’73), who revived the pro-gram 40 years ago this fall. Instead of the Terrier scarlet everyone expected, the jackets that arrived were a garish tomato-red. “We took a look at them and started cracking up,” Griffin says.

“But the thing is, we all wore them constantly,” she continues. “We whined about how ugly they were, but then we wore them everywhere. We were proud of being Dean’s Hosts and proud of being part of SED. You’d walk outside in the spring, and you’d see a sea of red jackets. To me, that’s the telling part of the story of the tomato jackets. It showed our allegiance.”

The Dean’s Hosts are SED’s ambassadors, a critical component of the School’s recruitment and external relations.

“We’re a small staff,” says Director of Student Services Jackie Boyle (meT’07, seD’13), and her department relies on these stu-dents to volunteer their time. The Dean’s Hosts meet with prospec-tive students and their parents at three big open-house events, and

“There is so much to talk to prospective SED students about! I tell them about the classes

where we put students in the classroom, giving them hands-on experience—in both urban and

suburban placements. That’s one of the big pluses with the curriculum we have at SED.”

-emiLy nowak (’13), dean’s host, and memBer, sedgreen and exCePtionaL eduCators CLuB

“I talk about how with ED 100, you

get to be in a school your

freshman year, and how unique

that is to SED. I talk about the

small class sizes. You can really get

to know your professors.”

-Brett weinstein (’13), dean’s host, student

teaCher at trotter eLementary sChooL,

and memBer, sed voLLeyBaLL team

RecRuiting A

FaMIly

The Dean’s hosTs celebraTe 40 years of making seD greaTby patrick l. kennedy

From LeFt to right: Piper Breves (’12), Jake Dore (’13),

Julia Goldstein (’13); Jessica Moskowitz (’12), Zeba Race (’14); Eva Gach (’13); Tess McNamara (’15); Jeff Fox (’14); Jackie Johnson (’14), Rhett, Brett

Weinstein (’13); Eva Gach, Sean Ashburn (’14), Alyssa Sarkis (’14); Lindsay

Moran (’13); Melissa Lutchen (’13), Larry Kozakowski (’12),

Katy Carlebach (’12)

www.bu.edu/sed 7www.bu.edu/sed 76 Boston University School of Education | spring/summer 2012

C o v e r S t o r y

At this year’s Boston University Alumni Weekend, september 21–23, 2012, the school of Education invites you to return to sED and celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Dean’s Hosts program!

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at countless individual day visits, over the course of the academic year. They give tours of the School, and they bring interested high schoolers along to SED classes and to lunch in BU dining halls. They also pitch in at SED events such as Junior Pinning, Senior Robing, Convocation, Parents Weekend, and Alumni Weekend. And from making ice sculptures to crunching admissions numbers, they help out in myriad ways not in any job description.

“They do everything,” says Boyle. “Across BU, other schools are jealous of how active SED’s Dean’s Hosts are. But I don’t think it has to do with SED’s Dean’s Hosts; it has to do with SED. These students are polite, respectful, they follow up, they communicate well, and they care about the School.”

Students nominated to be Dean’s Hosts must pass a “pretty hard-core recruiting process” of interviews, mock events, and essays, says Boyle, and they must maintain good grades while fulfill-ing their hosting and related duties.

Given all that, the group’s size is considerable: 30 to 40 students every year. That’s a big chunk of SED’s undergraduate student body of 350 to 400.

In fact, more students usually qualify for the hosts than the program can accept. “We cut half of the applicants every year,” says Boyle, in order to maintain a balance of majors, class years, and demographics. “Most people get cut the first time they apply, but they make it on the second try” the following year.

The point is that the hosts accurately represent the School’s student body. “They’re articulate; they’re so smart,” says Boyle. “They’re well grounded; they’re kind; and they’re outgoing.”

More so than most schools’, SED’s Dean’s Hosts shoulder a great deal of responsibility for planning and running events—not merely following directions. The students act on their own to propose programming for Open House, such as an Iron Chef-styled “Iron Teacher” competition or a BU quiz game based on Jeopardy! The hosts also stay in touch with prospective students beyond their initial campus visit, answering their questions about classes and activities. They even propose to Boyle ideas for larger recruitment initiatives, such as sending postcards to their old high school guid-ance counselors to let them know about SED’s Open House.

“We don’t just tell them what to do,” Boyle says. “It’s our volun-teerism model: The more say you have, the more invested you are.”

Beyond hosting The relationships that Dean’s Hosts form with BU hopefuls don’t end with enrollment. After prospectives become students, “they still need love,” says Boyle. “If a freshman is not transitioning well, or is having difficulty adjusting to BU, and I’m a little worried, I’ll mention it to a Dean’s Host, and all of a sudden that Dean’s Host is taking that student to lunch, showing him or her around, or talking about classes. They have a great sense of what it means to be part of a community and how we take care of each other here.”

Many Dean’s Hosts also become peer advisors in SED’s Transi-tional Mentor Program. “It was great for continuity,” recalls Griffin. As a mentor, “You’d see the same people you’d spoken to the previ-ous fall or spring” as a host. “It made you feel you did something

valuable for them and their families in giving them the information they needed to make that choice” in coming to BU.

Indeed, most if not all hosts take part in other clubs and organiza-tions, about a third of them in leadership roles. “They’re born leaders,” says Boyle. For example, the 2011/2012 Dean’s Hosts co-presidents were Katie matthews (’12), a former president of SED Student Government, and Brett Feldman (’13, Cas’13), a dual degree student and fraternity board member preparing for law school. And the latter’s sister, Brooke Feldman (Cas’08, seD’08, ’13), also a Dean’s Host in her day, was president of the BU Student Union.

How do these volunteers juggle their host commitments with other clubs, coursework, and student teaching? “A lot of practice,” says Matthews.

“They give 112 percent,” says Boyle. “And we constantly ask more of them. They’re good students, so they’re able to keep every-thing balanced, but we do call on them quite a bit.

“In turn, we try to give back to them.” Boyle offers the hosts professional-development workshops, bringing experts to campus

to teach them public speaking techniques, teamwork tips, and other leadership skills. That’s on top of time management and the other useful arts they master on the job. “They should walk away from this experience having learned something that will serve them for their whole lives,” says Boyle.

Griffin, now a teacher in Foxborough, Massachusetts, backs that up. At her elementary school, her colleagues dread open-house night, she says. “But I’m happy to stand up and talk to the assem-bled parents and their children. I’ve been doing that for ages: It’s like Dean’s Hosts Open House!”

The hosts aren’t just giving canned speeches, either. “It’s dif-ficult work—it’s not easy,” says Brett Feldman. “We’re talking to prospective students one-on-one, sitting down with them at lunch, talking to their parents, presenting to them. . . . You never quite know what they’re going to ask. As much as we think and plan for it, they always have a new and different angle on things, and it’s refreshing. It keeps me on my toes.”

Like the rest of the SED community, Dean’s Hosts pull together in a crisis. After the death of Dan Davis (see p. 13), advisor to fresh-man and sophomore history-education majors, that task fell to Boyle, who organized advising nights to help the underclassmen sort out their course options.

“My Dean’s Hosts came in and said, ‘We’ll help!’” Boyle says. “They talked to students about which classes to take. They sat with me in the computer lab and helped the freshmen put their schedules together. Because they’re good kids. They know when a community needs them.”

More than helping out a community, the Dean’s Hosts are, by recruiting and acclimating each incoming class, truly building one. “That’s my favorite thing, helping to shape the SED community,” says Matthews. “I’ve felt so supported and gained so much from being part of it, so I just enjoy giving back to it two- and three-fold, in every way that I can.”

This tradition of giving back goes back at least 40 years and owes a debt to the associate deans who restarted the program, says Boyle, their protégé and successor. “I always ask myself, ‘Am I being enough Dean Dee? Am I being enough Dean Dewey?’”

“Dean Dee and Dean Dewey absolutely guided that organiza-tion,” says Griffin. “They were such kind and enthusiastic, ener-getic and inspiring people, and they really set the tone for SED as a community.” More than a community, she adds, “SED is a family. It really is. And the Dean’s Hosts help to bring the next part of the family in.” ◆

“It’s nice to get to represent a school that we really believe in, and to bring

new people into it—to get the opportunity to talk to parents and students really for their first time in-depth about the School of Education . . . . You’re not just get-ting an education here. You’re in one of the best cities in the entire world, in probably the best state in the nation as far as education is concerned. The opportunities here are unbelievable.” -Brett feLdman (’13, Cas’13)

“You budget your time and pick your priorities, and one of my priorities is

strengthening the School of Education community, and the Dean’s Hosts do that at the most basic level, because the Dean’s Hosts are helping to shape the community. We’re recruiting the students who are going to come be part of our community next year. I think that’s really exciting. . . . I’ve felt so supported and gained so much [here], and I just enjoy giving back two- and three-fold, in every way that I can.” -katie matthews (’12)

a word from the dean’s hosts Co-Presidents

“I really enjoyed SED’s Transitional Mentor Program, which helped me meet people as a freshman. The History Educators Club is a great way to see historical places around Boston, such as Salem and the JFK Presidential Museum. And the library in the basement at SED is a great place to study among children’s books!”

-CoLLeen mahany (’15), dean’s host and memBer, history eduCators CLuB

caLLing aLL dean’s

hosts!

www.bu.edu/sed 9www.bu.edu/sed 98 Boston University School of Education | spring/summer 2012

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And most teachers and parents are content to leave them to it, ready to prolong the magic and hold back reality for as long as possible. Howard, an associate professor and specialist on the different stages that children and youth go through in thinking about careers, believes that might be a mistake. Waiting until middle school to talk about jobs could, she argues, be too late, especially for kids from low-income or minority backgrounds.

horizons narrow earlyLittle Charlotte’s ever-changing “When I grow up” declarations aren’t just representative of magical childhood moments. A decade

One of the most interesting findings, says Howard, is that girls from every socioeconomic group aspired to careers requiring more educa-tion than those picked by comparable boys, but “the resulting salary was about the same as what the boys were pursuing.” She speculates this might be because “occupations dominated

by women generally have lower prestige and pay than those domi-nated by men,” or that boys could be making a cost-benefit analysis when considering potential careers: “As we’re working with youth in general,” says Howard, “that’s something we should be exploring with them—how long will it take to enter this occupation?”

designing a solution As an advisor to future classroom and guidance professionals—she teaches seven counseling-related courses at SED—Howard is aware that these conclusions won’t directly help those in schools, many of whom are more likely to be firefighting problems than proactively avoiding them. One current project aims to turn her knowledge into something teachers can use. She’s joined with engineering experts to develop middle school math and science curricula that build career education into everyday classroom activities, while still meeting national standards. Currently in the testing phase, the curricula contain “content focused on engineering,” a field which Howard says is projected to soon have more jobs than people to fill them.

At the end of the three-year project, Howard will review not just the students’ interest in and understanding of engineering careers, but “we’ll also be looking at the teachers and their confi-dence for teaching engineering in the classroom.” After all, she says, it’s easy for harried teachers to “forget that what’s happening in the building and what you’re doing with the kids is really a foundation for what comes later;” the nine-to-five. In her view, that applies to the youngest pupils, too, and it’s her recommendations on elementary school children that Howard expects to provoke the most interest— and debate.

“I would love a world where all kids have the free-dom to dream and get the education they need so they can explore those opportunities,” she says. If little Charlotte likes the idea of being a “blood doctor,” she should also know it’s an achievable aspiration—no matter what her background. ◆

Depending on the day. When she grows up, the six-year-old announces while patrolling the class of soft toys on her bedroom floor, she’s going to be a teacher. Last month, her mom whispers, it was farmer; before that, “blood doctor.”

This, according to counseling expert Kimberly Howard, is the magical stage of career development. Charlotte isn’t con-cerned with the how of becoming a teacher—or blood doctor: “You just think it and it happens,” says Howard. “The younger kids, kindergarten, first grade, don’t understand that there is a process.”

ago, Howard studied kindergartners in the Boston neighborhood of Allston-Brighton and found the children only named profes-sions they’d seen firsthand: In the case of Charlotte, a day at school opens up teacher, a trip to the petting zoo gets her thinking about farming, and a test at the pediatrician’s office sparks dreams of becoming a “blood doctor.”

Even at four and five, says Howard, the scope of children’s ambition can be narrowed—or broadened—by the world around them: “We know that kids as young as four are making judgments about what jobs are possible for them, and not, based on things such as gender and socioeconomic status. Kids are looking around and saying, ‘Possible for me, not possible for me; possible for him, but not possible for me.’”

Once set, such limits can be hard to shake. Children can dream of being an astronaut, but if they don’t think they can make it, they probably won’t. “Your confidence for pursuing a particular route can greatly influence whether you take it or not,” says Howard. If career counseling begins with a question about interests—‘What are you interested in?’—it’s probably happening too late: “There’s a lot that leads up to what students say they’re interested in, and if you don’t back up to address and explore some of that, you’re essen-tially just continuing to perpetuate the status quo.”

Howard recommends elementary schools weave age-appro-priate introductions to careers into classroom lessons. Instead of a biography project about Clara Barton, for example, teachers could look at nursing in general, exploring what the job involves or why people do it. And, while it’s great to bring in community members and parents to share job stories, schools can now turn to the Inter-net for role models from far beyond their traditional catchment areas; Howard says sites such as Career Locker (wiscareers.wisc.edu) and careercruising.com are packed with kid-oriented videos about people from diverse backgrounds and professions.

For children and youth from diverse or low-income back-grounds, such “modeling ” is especially important: “There are a lot of messages, both implicit and explicit, that are offered to low-income kids and youth of color about what their place in the world is and isn’t, and what’s possible for them,” says Howard, who has undertaken counseling research on every-thing from the perspectives of urban youth to working with young people who are transgendered.

Cost–Benefit analysis In a recently completed project, Howard and a team from the University of Wisconsin–Madison interviewed more than 22,000 eighth- and tenth-grade students about their career aspirations. With such a large pool of participants, they could go beyond simple differences between rich and poor to eliminate a common com-plaint with other research—the confusion of “socioeconomic status with race and ethnicity.” It allowed Howard to draw authoritative conclusions rich with detail—that low-income Native American boys set for themselves humbler expectations than any other group, for instance.

waiting until middle sChool to talk aBout joBs Could Be too late, espeCially for kids from low-inCome or minority BaCkgrounds.

associate professor kimberly Howard

Charlotte has her career all mapped out.

When I Grow Up… Could career counseling for elementary school kids spoil the magic of their dreams or boost the chances of making them a reality?

By andrew thurston

www.bu.edu/sed 11www.bu.edu/sed 1110 Boston University School of Education | spring/summer 2012

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tHe united states is among the world’s top exporting countries, with more than $1.5 trillion in goods expected to leave our ports this year. From airplanes, cars, and semiconductors to soybeans, cotton, and coal, we ship American products to nearly every market in the world. And there’s another U.S. product making its way around the globe: civic education.

With funding from the federal government, the California-based Center for Civic Education has worked for nearly two

By Corinne steinBrenner

Exporting thE Building Blocks of dEmocracyameriCan-style CiviC eduCation is making its way to foreign Classrooms.

opening the doorIntroducing civic education to countries with little or no history of democracy takes patience, White says. “You push to get this piece in, and then a year or two later you push to get another piece in. It’s very, very incremental.”

The first step in importing Yankee-fried civic ed is to find a partner with whom to work. Ideally, that partner is the country’s central education ministry. In Hungary and the Czech Republic, for example, where the governments are eager to make democratic change, White has found the central ministries to be willing and helpful collaborators. In countries where democracy has a more tenuous hold, he’s had to seek other routes.

When he began working with the Center for Civic Education’s Russia project in the late 1990s, for example, he doubted he could immediately win the support of Russia’s federal education min-istry, so he instead began his collaboration with a liberal-leaning regional governor. The programs White helped develop in Samara soon caught on in surrounding regions. “It was only then,” he says, “when we were experiencing some success and enthusiasm, that the federal ministry began taking notice.”

teaChing the teaChersOnce proponents of civic education have gained a foothold in a given country, their most common next step, says White, is to begin working with classroom teachers. In Russia, he and his col-leagues developed a system of mobile teacher-training seminars. In other former Soviet countries, they took advantage of an existing infrastructure of teacher-training centers. “The centers of teacher education become our partners,” he says, “and we prepare people at those centers—sort of a train-the-trainers model.”

White is currently working on a similar model in Indone-sia, which has undergone major democratic reforms in the past decade. In 2010, the United States and Indonesia signed a Com-prehensive Partnership—an agreement to cooperate on matters of security, economic development, and education. As part of that agreement, White flew to Indonesia this spring to interview Indonesian scholars vying for the opportunity to come to Boston University in 2013 to earn doctoral degrees in civic education. When these students have completed their studies, they’ll return to Indonesia to oversee regional centers for civic education, where Indonesian schoolteachers will learn how to bring civics concepts into their classrooms.

formalizing the CurriCulumWhile teacher training can begin with booklets and worksheets, a strong system of civic education will eventually need formal classroom curricula and textbooks. Mongolia, a former Soviet ally that first held democratic elections in 1990, is currently working to produce its first series of civics textbooks. The textbook project is

decades to export civics curriculum and teacher training to more than 80 countries—helping citizens around the world to gain the civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions that have long been pillars of U.S. civic education (see sidebar). Through his ties with the cen-ter, Associate Professor Charles White has helped bring American-style civic education to Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union and is now working with scholars in Indonesia and China to shape civic education in those countries.

led by the Center for Civic Education’s Mongolian partner, Narang-erel Rinchin, a former member of the Mongolian Parliament whom White describes as “a force of nature.”

Initially, says White, education ministry officials told Rinchin her textbooks could include lessons on civic virtues but could not teach civic skills, such as how to contact public officials or how to speak persuasively in public. Firm in her belief that such skills are vital to civic education, Rinchin argued with ministry leaders and convinced them to allow a more comprehensive curriculum.

“It often takes people like that pushing the government, push-ing the ministries,” White says. Even in countries that claim to be committed to democracy, he says, “government is very jealous of its power and it gives it up very reluctantly. We see that in Egypt. We certainly see that in Russia with Putin. Very jealous of power.”

a new frontierThis general model—gaining a foothold, working with teachers, creating formal curricula—has succeeded in emerging democracies, but can the USA’s brand of civic ed be exported to countries that remain stubbornly undemocratic? White may soon find out: In his first collaboration with a scholar from a nondemocratic country, he is this year overseeing the doctoral work of Haikun Du, a visiting scholar from China.

With financial support from the Chinese government, Du came to BU to complete his doctoral studies in comparative political edu-cation. As he has studied the U.S. system of civic education, Du says, he has become particularly interested in the core values taught in American civics classes.

Chinese schools don’t teach civics, Du explains; they instead teach a nationally approved curriculum of “ideological and political education,” which focuses on past and present Chinese leaders and their political philosophies. In light of the rapid social and economic change taking place in China, Du and other Chinese scholars have become convinced, he says, that this curriculum is insufficient. They would like to see China implement a more robust social studies program that will, he says, help “cultivate a compe-tent citizen.” He believes the program should include a set of core moral values similar to the democratic values taught in the United States, while also relying more on discussion, debate, and commu-nity service.

China is increasingly joining the global marketplace—even importing billions of dollars in American-made goods each year—but is the Chinese government ready to allow Western-style civic education within its borders? Du believes it is. “I think what I’m doing here, my research, will be useful in the near future,” he says. “The government wants citizens to be more competent, to get used to a more open society.” And with China preparing for major lead-ership changes—including a new president—in the coming year, he says, now is a perfect time to prepare for education reform. ◆

aMeRIcan-style cIvIc educatIonIn the United States and—increasingly—throughout the world, civic education prepares students to carry out their roles as citizens by focusing on three interrelated topics:

❱ CIvIC KnowlEDgE: Understanding how the government functions, its history, and the role of citizens in the political system.

❱ CIvIC SKIllS: learning to think critically about political issues, make political decisions, influence policy, and monitor the workings of government.

❱ CIvIC DISpoSITIonS: Developing such democratic virtues as self-discipline, tolerance, patriotism, respect for the worth and dignity of individuals, a willing-

ness to compromise, and a commitment to the rule of law.

www.bu.edu/sed 1312 Boston University School of Education | spring/summer 2012

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sustainability has become a buzzword. ask a student “what is sustainability?” and you are likely to receive answers such as envi-ronmentalism, conservation, “being green,” and resource manage-ment. These are undoubtedly important aspects of any definition of sustainability, especially as we venture into a future influenced by climate change and widespread environmental degradation. How-ever, they do not encapsulate the concept. Instead, try asking that same student “What sustains you and allows you to thrive?” When posed in this manner, a much more diverse range of responses will be given: family, community, education, creative outlets, intellec-tual engagement, health and safety, love, religion, good food, clean water, breathable air. With the exception of the last three, it is not so obvious that all of these components of a fulfilling life must be present in a healthy, natural environment. As educators, we have a responsibility to help our students understand the deep connec-tions between nature and every other aspect of their lives.

David Orr, a professor of environmental studies and politics at Oberlin College, has published many works on the shortcomings of our educational system. During a 1990 commencement address, Orr shared the following quote from BU Professor Elie Wiesel (Hon.’74) on how the Germans, among the best-educated people in the world, could nevertheless commit such barbaric acts during the Second World War: “[Their education] emphasized theories instead of values, concepts rather than human beings, abstraction rather than consciousness, answers instead of questions, ideology and effi-ciency rather than conscience.” According to Orr, the same could be said for the way our educational system has prepared us for dealing with the natural world today.

We have set up a system that encourages students to see suc-cess as the ability to memorize and regurgitate information that someone else has told them is important. In this system, a student

insatiable reader, world traveler, jazz lover, and trusted advisor, Dan Davis died on October 19, 2011, of a heart attack, while in Udaipur, India. The clinical assistant professor of education had been working with SED students at the American School of Bombay.

“To say that everyone loved him is not hyperbole,” Jane Ko (’11) told BU Today. “Dan was my advisor—he’s the reason I’m here. People gravitated toward him.”

As SED’s coordinator for curriculum and teaching development, Davis advised more than 70 students, from undergrads to doctoral candidates, and taught courses in social studies methods, general methods for grades 5 through 12, and teaching the Cold War through film. The New York native also co-authored the textbooks The United States Since 1945 and A History of the World and co-directed the Harvard Project on East Asian Studies in Education.

SED Dean Hardin Coleman recalled that graduates at the May 2011 Commence-ment ceremony wore “I love Dan Davis” signs on their caps. “He was that professor who not only challenged you to do your best,” says Coleman, but “he swept you up in his enthusiasm for teaching and let you know that you counted as a person.”

Former student Brooke Feldman (’08) says Davis was far more than a professor and advisor. “He was the heart and soul of our extended family,” says Feldman. “It was Dan’s limitless energy and enthusiasm, coupled with his deep passion for history and politics, that transformed generations of SED students into exceptional teachers.”

Before coming to BU in 1999, Davis worked at Stoughton High School for 30 years, as a social studies teacher, depart-ment chairman, and principal.

Davis is survived by his wife of 48 years, Barbara; his son and daughter-in-law, Jeff and Lisa Davis, of Foxborough; his daughter, Jill Davis, of New York City; four grandchil-dren; and his sister, Gwendolyn. ◆

For information about how to support the Daniel Davis Memorial scholarship Fund, please visit www.bu.edu/sed/alumni/ giving/davis-scholarship.

might only be exposed to related issues in isolated segments—a unit on climate change in earth science class, or a lesson on food webs in biology—and even then never be made to fully understand the greater implications. The role of education should be to draw forth knowledge, rather than simply to train.

To change this paradigm, a more holistic view of education needs to be employed across all disciplines with an understanding that all education should be environmental education. There is no topic or discipline that is not dependent on a healthy environment. Science classes could strive to help students see the Earth and all living things as one interconnected system, in which changes to one component of the system can have profound impact on all other components. History classes could explore how many civilizations have been destroyed because of climate change or environmental mismanagement, as well as evaluate those that thrived by achiev-ing a balance with their environment. Business classes could teach students about sustainably managing resources, investing in natural capital, and social and environmental externalities which are often overlooked in the pursuit of a quick profit. Social studies and English classes could help students develop visions for their futures that include a high standard of living and a healthy, natural environment. Art and music classes could embrace the creative inspiration and healing power of nature.

A critical foundation for any meaningful environmental educa-tion is the cultivation of a kinship with the natural world. People protect those things they love or deem valuable. Students will not fight to save our planet unless they have an intimate connection with her. According to Jane Austen, “They are much to be pitied who have not been given a taste for nature early in life.” Unfortu-nately, current generations are getting less and less of a taste than their predecessors. In his book Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv explores “nature-deficit disorder,” which occurs when children do not have enough experiences in or contact with the natural world. Not only do children with nature-deficit disorder lack a kinship with nature, but they also can exhibit numerous negative behavioral, social, emotional, cognitive, and physiological symptoms. As educators, we should actively work to provide our students with a surplus of nature, especially in the younger grades. Hold classes outside, go on more field trips, start a school garden. Even simple measures like opening the windows and blinds, or bringing more plants into the classroom can reinforce those impor-tant connections with nature. Education and the natural world should not, and cannot, be separated if we are to achieve a healthy, thriving, sustainable future for generations to come. ◆

alex beach can be reached at abeach18@gmail.com.

To read more alumni op-eds, visit blogs.bu.edu/sED/alumni-op-eds. To submit your own, visit www.bu.edu/sed/alumni/at-sed/oped. Entries must be 500 to 750 words, on any topic in education.

a taste for natureMake all education environmental education.by alex BeaCh (’09)

in memoriamDaniel Davis, beloved professor and advisorby susan seliGson

www.bu.edu/sed 1312 Boston University School of Education | spring/summer 2012