Latest Announcements

Join the Education Justice Project for an author talk with Rebecca Neusteter, author of 911, What’s Your Emergency?: The Promise and Peril of Crisis Response. She will discuss her research on the 911 system, its impact on communities of color, and challenges of relying on police as the default emergency response. Dinner will be served and as well as copies of the book. Email policy@educationjustice.net with any questions or accessibility requests 

RSVP: https://educationjustice.jotform.com/262185317547866  

The Education Justice Project is hosting an info session on Wed Oct. 21, from 2-3 p.m. in Room 22, for anyone interested in learning more about opportunities to work with EJP at Danville Correctional Center, either on our policy team or through our pathway program. 

Undergraduate and graduate students are welcome to attend to learn more about our internship program. 

Course instructors are compensated; other roles are not. More information is available on our website: https://educationjustice.net/work-with-ejp/. All are  welcome!

Megan Best, Ph.D. '25 SPED, has been named the recipient of the Early Career Teacher Educator Award from TASH.

The recipient of the Teacher Educator Award has a clearly defined university-level teaching philosophy that aligns with TASH’s mission and values, including a clear emphasis on inclusive practices that integrate current research and evidence-based practices. In addition, the nominee has a well-established record of scholarly and/or creative work that effectively bridges research and practice.

Best is an assistant professor of Special Education at the University of Kentucky. She was named the Alice H. Hayden Emerging Leader from TASH in 2025.

TASH advances equity, opportunity and inclusion for people with disabilities, with a focus on those with the most significant support needs, in the areas of education, employment and community living through advocacy, research and practice.

Saad Shehab, Ph.D. '19 Curriculum & Instruction, has been named a fellow in the International Society for Design and Development in Education (ISDDE). Fellows represent excellence in design and development in education from the designer, design group leader, or funder perspectives. 

Shehab is part of the NSF-funded project "Engaging Teachers in Integrating Human-Centered Design for Geometry Problem-based Instruction," which began in 2023. He serves as Senior Associate Director of Research and Strategic Initiatives for the Siebel Center for Design. He conducts research that informs the design, implementation, and evaluation of Human-Centered Design programs and activities in formal and informal learning environments. 

ISDDE focuses on mathematics and science education to improve design and development processes used in educational design, build and support a community among educational designers, create transformational training opportunities for new educational designers, and increase the impact of educational designers on educational practice worldwide.

Hsiu-Wen Yang, a visiting research scientist with the Illinois Early Childhood Asset Map (IECAM), has received a $451,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 

"Building Bridges: Collaboration and Partnership to Support Late-Talking Bilingual Toddlers," for which Yang will serve as PI, aims to improve collaboration and connection between Early Intervention providers and parents of late-talking toddlers. 

Yang hopes to identify strengths, needs, and priorities when setting goals for families and EI providers, and strengthen intervention planning for these children. The project also aims to shed new light on how families and EI providers work together to set meaningful language goals.

Mirelsie Velázquez, associate professor of Latina/o Studies and Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, has published an article for the Latino News Network. 

Her article, "The Future of Puerto Rico: Consider Needs of the Children," examines the challenges facing her native Puerto Rico amidst an education and migration crisis.

"Since Hurricane Maria in 2017, there has been a dramatic shift in the population numbers across the archipelago, with the number declining to about 3.2 million according to reports from the Pew Research Center," says Velazquez. " This outmigration of teachers and students does not just reflect an opportunity but a necessity. Between 2017 and 2021, Puerto Rico has seen numerous school closings and schools sold to private organizations."

"And for those schools that remain open, disinvestment in schools and services across the archipelago has made it imperative that families make the decision to leave Puerto Rico to meet the needs of their children."

Velázquez wrote the article in connection with her appointment as an Op-Ed Project Public Voices Fellow.

Emily Harrington, assistant professor, and Matt Lambert, professor and department head of Special Education, have collaborated on a $427,000 NIH-funded study from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.

Their project, titled Leveraging Extant Data to Characterize Language Growth and Optimize Caregiver-Implemented Interventions for Children with Late Language Emergence, explores the strategies caregivers use with children ages 30 to 45 months with spoken language delays.

The study hopes to optimize and evaluate developmentally aligned interventions that reach more caregivers and children with late language emergence. 

Harrington and Lambert are joined by Pamela Hadley, professor of Speech and Hearing Sciences at Illinois, as a co-PI on the project. 

The Office of Advancement at the College of Education invites all faculty and staff to the first-ever Salute to Education event on Saturday, October 17, at the I Hotel and Conference Center from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Bringing together the College’s Student Recognition Brunch and annual Alumni Awards program, this new fall tradition celebrates our 2026 Alumni Award recipients, student scholarship recipients, and the generous donors who make scholarships and fellowships possible. Enjoy a brunch buffet as we honor achievements in education and the community helping shape its future.

If you would like to attend, please RSVP by October 2.

Hyun-Sook Kang, associate professor of Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, served as an invited panelist for the Universitas 21 (U21) Graduate Researchers in Education Community of Practice (GRE CoP) webinar, “Demystifying Peer Review.”

During the international webinar, Kang shared her expertise and experiences with graduate researchers from U21 institutions, offering insights into the peer-review and academic publishing process. The panel explored challenges graduate researchers commonly encounter, including navigating contradictory reviewer feedback, prioritizing revisions, responding effectively to reviewers, deciding when authors can appropriately push back against reviewer recommendations, and understanding the review process from an editor’s perspective.

Martin Lehrer, a doctoral student in Curriculum & Instruction, represented the College of Education in the U21 Graduate Researchers in Education Community of Practice. As part of the GRE CoP leadership team, Lehrer invited Kang to participate in the panel and helped organize the webinar.

The webinar was part of the U21 PGR Success Series, “From Published to Funded,” an international professional development initiative that brings together graduate researchers and academics from U21 universities to exchange knowledge and perspectives on research, publishing, and academic development.

Through Professor Kang’s contribution to the panel and Lehrer’s involvement with the GRE CoP, the College of Education was represented in an international U21 initiative supporting the professional development of emerging education researchers.

Congratulations to Gayithri Jayathirtha, assistant professor of Curriculum and Instruction, who has won a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to better understand artificial intelligence (AI) literacy development within computing classrooms. Her project, "Co-Designing, Implementing, and Researching Computing Learning Experiences about AI (CIRCLE-AI)" has been awarded a five-year, $715,000 grant.

Specifically, Jayathirtha says CIRCLE-AI will "explore and develop the fundamental computing concepts underlying AI such as problem-solving, algorithms, and data science and create applications by writing programs." The work will be situated in introductory high school computing classrooms, involving students from a wide range of rural and urban regions of Alabama, Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon and Wisconsin. As a crucial component of the project, Jayathirtha will partner with supporting teachers to co-design CIRCLE-AI curricular materials and professional development sessions.

The highly selective CAREER award recognizes early-career faculty with the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or institution.

Le'Passion Darby, Ed.M. '22 EPOL, has published a chapter in a new book examining the heritage messages conveyed by statuary monuments, focusing on statues and monuments of women and exploring the challenges of depicting women's key roles across different societies.

Her chapter, Why Katherine Johnson? Why Now? The Shifting Symbolism in Black Women Statuary at HBCUs examines the motivations behind West Virginia State University's decision to honor NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson and explores the monument’s symbolism and timing through insights from university presidents, staff, students, and the sculptor.

The book, published by Routledge, is titled Monuments, Statues, and Commemorations of Women. 

Sarah Zehr Gantz, Ph.D. '16 EPOL and associate vice president for academic affairs for the University of Illinois System, was honored by the Executive Club of Champaign County with the Athena Leadership Award.

Gantz’s career reflects an extensive commitment to education, leadership development, and public service. During more than two decades with the University of Illinois, she has held leadership positions spanning academic affairs, public engagement, corporate relations, engineering career services, communications, and business education. She serves as an adjunct faculty member in the College of Education, teaching graduate-level courses and advising master’s and doctoral students.

Gantz has served as President of the Executive Club of Champaign County, held numerous leadership roles with Leadership Illinois and the United Way of Champaign County, and initiated major community service efforts addressing issues including hunger and volunteer engagement. One initiative she proposed and led grew to involve more than 1,500 volunteers packaging 160,000 meals for the local food bank.

Gantz is also a former ATHENA Young Professional Award recipient, having received the honor in 2012. Her other recognitions include the University of Illinois Chancellor's Academic Professional Excellence Award, the United Way Spirit of Caring Outstanding Volunteer Award, and recognition among Champaign-Urbana's Top Forty Under 40.

The ATHENA Awards celebrate leadership that strengthens communities while creating opportunities for women to reach their full potential. A panel of community leaders selects recipients based on the materials submitted through the nomination process.

Three faculty members from the College of Education were named OpEd Project Public Voices Fellows by the Office of the Provost.

Rochelle Gutierrez, professor Curriculum & Instruction, Jon Hale, professor Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, and Mirelsie Velázquez associate professor Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, were all selected to be fellows.

The Public Voices Fellowship is a year-long program that provides a cohort of 20 thought leaders with extraordinary support, leadership skills, and knowledge to improve representation in the field, ensuring their ideas shape not only their fields but also the broader public conversations of our age.

Faculty members in this cohort will attend four sessions during the 2026-27 academic year and will be paired with a journalism mentor who provides one-on-one editing and coaching. Fellows will publish two or more op-ed pieces during the program.

P. David Pearson, eleventh Dean of the College of Education, passed away on August 30.

Pearson served as Dean from 1989-1995. During his tenure, he also served as Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Reading and Professor of Curriculum and Instruction from 1978-1995.

A prolific scholar of reading research, Pearson wrote and co-edited several books about research and practice, most notably the Handbook of Reading Research, now in its fourth volume. He served multiple terms as editor of 3 major research publications-Reading Research Quarterly, NRC Yearbook, and Review of Research in Education. His 300+ books, articles, and chapters, written with over 200 co-authors, appear in a range of outlets for a wide range of audiences—teachers, scholars, and policy makers.

He served as an advisor to the National Academy of Sciences, the Children’s Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop), the National Assessment of Educational Progress, myriad school districts and state agencies, and many public and private educational institutions.

Pearson's honors include the 1989 Oscar Causey Award for outstanding contributions to reading research from the NRC and the 1990 William S.Gray Citation of Merit. He received the Alan Purves Award from the National Council of Teachers of English, and in 2005, the Albert J. Harris Award from the  International Reading Association for scholarship on reading difficulties. 

In 2003, he was elected to membership in the National Academy of Education, and in 2009, he was named an AERA Fellow. Earlier this year, Pearson was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. In 2010, he received the AERA Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award. The Literacy Research Association (formerly the NRC) created the P. David Pearson Scholarly Influence Award in 2012 to honor scholarship that impacts literacy practice.

In addition to Illinois, Pearson served on the faculty at the University of Minnesota, Michigan State University, and the University of California, Berkeley.

Aigul Rakisheva, a Ph.D. Candidate in Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, has earned the Strategic Data Project (SDP) Fellowship at Harvard University.

Rakisheva will join the Center for Education Policy Research (CEPR) as Manager of Impact Evaluation.

The SDP Fellowship is a two-year capacity-building program that places data strategists in education organizations to support evidence-based decision-making and improve student outcomes. The fellowship provides extensive training in measurement and analysis, leadership and change management, and education policy.

CEPR at Harvard University has developed a distinctive approach to fulfilling its mission to transform education through high-quality research and evidence.

• How artifacts and boundary objects support teacher learning in an online lesson study model centered on human-centered design
• How high school mathematics teachers designed culturally relevant geometry challenges through a lesson study and HCD framework
• Presented a geometry lesson where students designed lanterns using mathematical modeling, emphasizing empathy and belonging
• Introduced a method for tracing and assessing student mathematical and design learning during authentic design challenges

The research is part of the NSF-funded project "Engaging Teachers in Integrating Human-Centered Design for Geometry Problem-based Instruction," which began in 2023. The project supports teachers in designing and implementing lessons using a human-centered design approach. Geometry teachers will participate in lesson study for two years to plan problem-based geometry lessons and to observe student thinking during those lessons. The project investigates how teachers learn about and apply a human-centered framework for teaching geometry.

The College of Education is proud to announce that all currently enrolled Education students will have their registration fees waived for the 9th Annual CREA Conference.

To register, visit the CREA Conference page. Email Tim Leyhe at tleyhe@illinois.edu to receive a special code to redeem your free admission. Students are responsible for their own transportation, lodging, and meals not provided by the conference.

The conference will be held October 6-9 at the Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel in Chicago. This year’s conference theme, Future-Forward in Cultural Responsiveness: Opportunity, Equity, Evidence, and Innovation, invites us to explore how our work can both respond to and shape the evolving landscape of evaluation.

The Office of Marketing and Communications (MarCom) has a new tool to streamline adding digital signage to the College's network of displays.

To submit a digital sign for approval, please visit https://my.education.illinois.edu/digitalsigns/ (NetID login required). Please be sure to include the run dates for your sign. All images must be 1920 x 1080 pixels in .jpg format to be displayed. 

All digital signs for official College or university business that display the block I logo must comply with Illinois and College brand standards.

The MarCom team maintains screens for the Education Building public spaces, CRC Public Spaces, and the SAAO office. Unless otherwise specified in the comments section, we will add your sign to all networks. 

Messages posted on these screens must be relevant to a wide audience and limited to official university or community partner events. These screens are not for promoting personal projects, research studies, or non-official messaging.

Please contact the MarCom staff if you have any questions.

The Illinois Workforce and Education Research Collaborative (IWERC) and the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago have released two new reports on the science and mathematics teacher (SMT) workforce for grades 6-12 in rural Illinois. 

This mixed-methods research project, funded by the National Science Foundation Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, aims to help districts across the state and country better understand the factors and working conditions that encourage SMTs to stay in their schools 

To set the stage for the project, the IWERC team—Shereen Oca Beilstein, Stephanie Werner, Ph.D., Haeryun Kim, and Anna Barkley—conducted a descriptive landscape of the state’s rural and high-need rural districts as well as the characteristics of the SMT workforce and SMT retention in these districts. 
 
To explore SMT working conditions in rural districts, NORC conducted a survey to understand the primary reasons SMTs stay and the associations between these reasons and SMT backgrounds and teaching circumstances. 
 
To read the two reports now, visit https://lnkd.in/g-9cY8ew.

According to data published by the Illinois Department of Corrections earlier this month, access to college classes in prison is falling behind while demand for them increases.

Around 2,600 out of the approximately 30,000 people incarcerated in Illinois are enrolled in higher education, while another 3,700 are on a waitlist, according to IDOC. “That’s a pretty powerful indication that the challenge isn’t a lack of interest in education — it’s our capacity to meet that interest,” said Ashton Klekamp, policy and research director at the Education Justice Project, to OpenCampus and WBEZ Chicago.

Whether someone has access to higher education depends largely on geography, with some prisons offering limited access while a few offer none at all. “One of the things that jumps out immediately is how uneven access is across facilities,” Klekamp said. “It tells us that the experience of trying to access education can depend considerably on where someone is incarcerated.”

The state published data on who is studying in prison for only the second time, after a 2023 state law mandated IDOC release the stats. “For a long time … we didn’t have a sense of where that access existed and who didn’t have access,” Klekamp said. “The demographic data is something that is really important…People are telling us very clearly that they want an education. The question for Illinois is whether we’re willing to build the capacity to meet that demand.”

Currently, most bachelor’s degree programs in Illinois prisons come through private universities — Northwestern, Lewis, Adler, and Augustana all offer bachelor’s degrees. North Park Theological Seminary offers a master’s degree in restorative justice ministries.

The only four-year public institutions offering credit-bearing academic courses are the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, which offers college credit but not a full degree, and Eastern Illinois University. Both operate at Danville Correctional Center.

Read more at WBEZ Chicago.