Joint projects in arts, humanities, social & behavioral sciences announced
Apr 27, 2023
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) is pleased to announce the program awardees for joint projects in arts, humanities, and social and behavioral sciences. Co-sponsored by SSRI, the College of the Liberal Arts, and the College of Arts and Architecture, these joint…
New study will partner with Latino families to co-design math educational tools
Apr 26, 2023
The Spanish-speaking population has grown by 24 percent in the United States since 2000, representing one-third of all children ages 8 and under. A new Penn State project will work directly with Latino families to develop new resources to help foster learning of mathematics in the home that are…
Centre officials hear about Justice Education
Apr 20, 2023
This recent news story about a proclamation supporting Penn State's Restorative Justice Initiative's Justice Education Week in Centre County, Pa. features SSRI co-fund Brandy Henry. During this week’s Centre County Board of Commissioners meeting, the commissioners proclaimed April 14-21 as Justice…News Topics: EducationCriminal Justice
Sociology professor awarded $1.8 million NIH grant for education-dementia study
Oct 25, 2022
Education plays a key role in preventing Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, and Liying Luo, assistant professor of sociology and demography and associate director of the Center for Social Data Analytics, has made it one of the primary focuses of her research. Now her work in that area is…
School-based screening increases identification of, treatment for depression
Nov 17, 2021
Students who participated in universal school-based depression screening were twice as likely to begin treatment compared to their peers who did not receive this screening, according to a new study by Penn State College of Medicine researchers. Dr. Deepa Sekhar, associate professor of pediatrics,…News Topics: EducationDepression
Covid-19 & the Classroom: Back to School in a Pandemic
Aug 31, 2020
As schools reopen (and don't reopen) for the fall, we're gathering a group of education experts for an #AskReuters Twitter chat. Join us Wednesday, Sept. 2 at 2 p.m. ET.
Researchers study impact of health care reform on child development
May 18, 2020
Education has long been associated with enhanced health and well-being in large part by allowing greater access to resources such as quality health care. With the aid of a new grant, an education professor at Penn State has started a project to study the flip side of that coin — how can health…
Penn State-led project works to help prevent violence in schools
May 12, 2020
Children in remote locations, including children in military families, can face a variety of struggles, including violence in schools and other environments. Penn State researchers developed a new publication that will assist schools in evaluating the violence prevention resources they may be using…
‘PROSPER’ Program continues to respond to families’ educational needs
Apr 23, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruptions for Pennsylvanians, including the closing of schools and the interruption of other educational programs. Penn State’s PROmoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience (PROSPER) project is continuing to connect and engage…
Underlying factors affect children's early reading and math achievement
Mar 16, 2020
Underlying individual and environmental factors may better explain inter-relations between children’s early reading and mathematics achievement, according to new research that fails to support prior work suggesting that increasing children’s math skills might help increase their reading skills.…
Categorical inequalities between Black and white students are common in US schools—but they don’t have to be
Feb 24, 2020
By Kenneth Shores, Ha Eun Kim, and Mela Still for Brookings The Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) reports large, persistent gaps between Black and white students on educational outcomes such as school suspensions, uptake of AP classes, assignment to special education and gifted and talented…
Extent of discrimination in discipline of students with disabilities unclear
Jan 30, 2020
Federal legislation and regulation currently require U.S. schools to monitor for whether students with disabilities who are also racial or ethnic minorities are being inappropriately disciplined. Yet a new analysis of existing studies led by Paul Morgan, professor of education in the Department of…
Frankenberg rises in ranking of public influencers on education
Jan 14, 2020
Erica Frankenberg, professor of education (educational leadership) and demography, director of the Center for Education and Civil Rights, and an associate in the University's Population Research Institute, jumped 76 places to rank 87th in this year's Rick Hess Straight Up (RHSU) Edu-Scholar Public…News Topics: College of EducationEducation
Shores' research on cuts in school spending leading to learning loss
Sep 30, 2019
SSRI cofunded faculty member Kenneth Shores' research into school spending cuts triggered by the Great Recession being associated with sizable losses in academic achievement for students living in counties most affected by the economic downturn, was published recently in AERA Open, a peer-reviewed…
Team wins 5-year, $1.98 million NSF grant to improve teacher preparation
Sep 10, 2019
A team of Penn State College of Education faculty led by P. Karen Murphy has won a five-year, $1.98 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to improve the preparation of undergraduate preservice elementary teachers. Murphy, distinguished professor of education (educational…
Study: Black students less likely to be identified as having disabilities
Aug 28, 2019
Black and Latino students in the South are less likely to be identified as having learning disabilities when compared to their White peers, according to a study that will be published in a forthcoming issue of Exceptional Children. The most stark results included the number of Black students who…
Education policy studies faculty member awarded co-funded grant
Aug 26, 2019
Kelly Rosinger, assistant professor of education in the Department of Education Policy Studies and research associate in the Center for the Study of Higher Education, and a team of researchers were recently awarded a total of $373,590 to analyze how variations in performance-based funding (PBF)…
New studies challenge the claim that black students are sent to special ed too much
Aug 19, 2019
Column by Jill Barshay Decades of research have documented that students of color, particularly black children, are disproportionately classified by schools as having disabilities. In 2016, 12 percent of black children across the nation received services at school for disabilities ranging from…
Study shows benefits to changing students' mindsets about learning
Aug 7, 2019
A groundbreaking new experimental study with more than 12,000 ninth grade students in the United States confirmed that a low-cost online program that takes less than an hour to complete can help students develop a growth mindset — the belief that intellectual abilities are not fixed but can be…
Presidential debates launch faculty member into national spotlight
Aug 6, 2019
When Erica Frankenberg co-founded the Center of Education and Civil Rights with colleague Liliana Garces, her goal was to address the racial, ethnic, economic and linguistic segregation that continues to permeate schools across our nation. Although more than six decades have passed since school…
Why Social Science? - Because It Guides Us Toward Practical and Attainable Solutions
Aug 6, 2019
By Tom Kecskemethy, Executive Director, The American Academy of Political and Social Science The wisest quote about science that I’ve read in recent years was penned by Vanderbilt University’s Larry Bartels, in an article he wrote during the run-up to 2016 general election. He reminded us simply…
Morgan cited in new federal report on race and school discipline
Jul 23, 2019
Lauren Camera, Education Reporter, U.S. News & World Report Black students with disabilities are disciplined more often than their white peers, pushing them into the school-to-prison pipeline at higher rates, a new report from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights shows – just the latest finding…
What school segregation looks like in the US today, in 4 charts
Jul 19, 2019
By Erica Frankenburg, for The Conversation Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, a senator from California, has spoken about how she benefited from attending Berkeley’s desegregated schools. “There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public…
Psychology professor named 2019 Society for Prevention Research Fellow
Jun 11, 2019
Karen L. Bierman, Evan Pugh Professor of Psychology and director of the Penn State Child Study Center in the College of the Liberal Arts, has been named a fellow of the Society for Prevention Research (SPR). SPR introduced Bierman as a fellow during the organization’s annual awards and fellows…
Course on addiction and recovery offered Fall 2019
Jun 4, 2019
An opportunity to obtain a Certified Recovery Specialist (CRS) certification, a Certified Family Recovery Specialist (CFRS) certification, or a better understanding of addiction and recovery, is available for Penn State students this fall. Curriculum & Instruction 497 is a 4-credit course that…