Like many teens, Michael Courington was dying to get a job. “My family didn’t have a lot of money growing up. I was chomping at the bit to turn 16 to start working because I wanted a car,” Courington says. “My mother
Read moreEPFE 201 students rock Ecochallenge
Fifty-two students in “Education as an Agent of Change” classes are topping all Illinois schools in competition to do the most environmental and social good during the month of Earth Day. They’re taking part in the online Ecochallenge, thanks to Gary Swick,
Read moreGrad students modify Chicago research to address host site’s COVID-19 concerns
During this strange era of COVID-19, the adage about “the best-laid plans” has proven itself more than a cliché. For Dean Laurie Elish-Piper and Laura Ruth Johnson, an associate professor in the Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment, their work that
Read moreCOE Student Spotlight: Michelé Smith
Hometown: Maywood, Ill. Program: Ph.D. Educational Psychology Status: Defending dissertation What inspired you to pursue this degree/career? I’m an African-American female. About 10 years ago, I was at another community college, and I met a young lady who I was very impressed
Read moreTeachers from Uruguay visit NIU, observe U.S. counterparts in DeKalb, Elgin schools
Valentina González and Analia Piantanida rarely see cultural diversity in the homogenous society of Uruguay, where both are English teachers in middle schools and high schools. Coming to Illinois as part of the NIU College of Education’s Uruguay Fulbright Teachers Program, however,
Read moreCOE Student Spotlight: Jeron Shelton
Hometown: Rockford, Ill. Program: Ph.D. Educational Psychology Status: Dissertating What inspired you to pursue this degree/career? I am in my 13th year as a seventh-grade English and social studies teacher at Abbott Middle School in Elgin U-46. Originally, I was teaching gifted
Read moreFirst-year high school principal builds strong foundation with NIU preparation
During the six years Matthew Bennett and his wife, Erin, spent teaching school in Nevada, he realized his professional future might lie outside the classroom. “We just had a lot of turnover in the administrative ranks,” Bennett says. “I thought, ‘There’s got
Read moreEd Psych students join Daryl Dugas for presentation on ‘white fragility’
Talking about race is never easy. Secondary teaching candidates in NIU’s EPS 450: Classroom Management course, however, are growing more comfortable in conducting such discussions in respectful, productive ways – something their professor hopes will “change the conversation.” Daryl Dugas, an assistant
Read moreMarguerite Key Fellows program marks two years of ideas, growing momentum
Kiwana Sanders grew up imagining the golden possibilities that she felt sure were waiting in the world outside her ZIP code. “I was one who was without,” says Sanders, principal of Nathan Hale Middle School in Cook County School District 130 of
Read moreMerritt speaker Lynda Stone to explore motivating youth past politics to action
It happened in a heavily traveled minority neighborhood south of the center of San Francisco. Mary Lou Vanilla, a beloved art teacher at a nearby school, lived at a dangerous and unguarded intersection along Army Street. The number of deaths there deeply
Read moreAs superintendents face twin challenges, NIU works to prepare ‘visionary’ leaders
Ask Danny Oest to name the Top 5 challenges confronting school superintendents, and he succinctly boils his list down to just two. But they’re big ones. First, says Oest, the former shared superintendent of Richmond-Burton Community High School 157 and Nippersink School
Read moreNIU Ed Admin alum Brian Harris serves Barrington 220 with ‘what’s best for kids’
Brian Harris sports an impressive résumé. Superintendent of Schools in Barrington 220. Former superintendent of Wheaton-Warrenville 200, and assistant superintendent for Human Resources and Secondary Education in St. Charles 303. President of the Large Unit District Association in Illinois, an organization representing
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