The Education and Batten Schools plan to launch a new Center on Education and Policy and Workforce Competitiveness next fall. The Center will study ways to improve the U.S. education system in the changing global economy.
The idea for the Center first originated in the Education School, Dean Robert Pianta said. Both Education and Batten faculty members were interested in combining their respective expertise as they explore issues surrounding education and leadership.
"There were several of us that basically thought that having such a Center would be a useful thing both for the University but also for educational policy in Virginia and around the country," said James Wyckoff, center director and education professor.
The Center's key objectives include plans to increase the access to and quality of elementary-level education, enhance the effectiveness of teachers and work to college enrollment from lower-income and minority families by exploring alternative student aid mechanisms.
Evidence suggests that the country's educational competitiveness suffers from the performance of its elementary and secondary education systems, which may be of lower overall quality than the systems of other developed nations, Wyckoff said. The Center hopes to address the competitiveness of U.S. workers through improvement in educational and other programs.
"There's lots of evidence that effective teachers make an enormous difference in student outcomes," Wyckoff said, adding that the Center will also make an effort to address how to retain and recruit teachers in schools where students do not achieve as highly.
"There is an amount of evidence that, in fact, we need to improve the working conditions broadly for teachers in some schools where student achievement is not high," he said. "We are interested in what policies might make those schools more attractive to teachers."
Many schools in urban locations have countered this problem by paying an additional stipend to attract teachers. Nevertheless, Wyckoff and other members of the Center hope to study and evaluate other ways to improve working conditions at these schools and make them more attractive to teachers, he said.
Because of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act, the Center will be able to access records for students from third grade to high school to supplement its research, Wyckoff said. The Center also will use other projects such as the Classroom Assessment Scoring System, which allows students to grade teacher performance. All student information is anonymous, though, to protect each child's right to privacy.
He added that he hopes the Center's research will become an objective data source, particularly in the study of student performance, which is an area from which improvements in education policy can be devised.
"I think [the Center] will be successful for several reasons," Batten Assoc. Dean Eric Patashnik said. "First of all, we're building upon the existing research strength of the University in education policy. We have world class scholars in James Wyckoff, Sarah Turner and others who have an excellent track record in attracting external research support from leading foundations."
When the Center opens, organizers from both schools will hold a public reception, where they will introduce the new institution and its goals, Patashnik said.
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