Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Also
China’s first generation of only
children comes of age.
Outside Chance
They’ve traded the streets, drug
addiction, juvenile hall, and
prison for a college classroom.
With the support of Noel Gomez,
Ed.M.’06 — and each other —
they just might make it.
Ed. The Magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education | Summer 2010 | vol. lIIi, no. 3
features departments
16 Outside Chance
Some have been incarcerated, others are
one strike shy of life in prison. College
3 Dean’s Perspective
6
was the last place any of them expected
4 Letters
to end up. But it’s the one place that Noel
Gomez, Ed.M.’06, wants to keep them.
6 The Appian Way
12
22
34 In the Media
34
Boy, oh Boy!
Stay plugged in stories and links found only online
There’s a narrow version of boyhood
34
that is being sold to us, say three
alumni authors, and while parents www.gse.harvard.edu events
and teachers can’t fully protect Conferences. Askwiths. Deadlines. Don’t miss a thing.
Is a picture really worth a thousand www.gse.harvard.edu/news_events/events
boys from the marketers, they can
words? With the debut of our new
help them identify — and hopefully
question — what’s going on.
video series, Stories from Appian twitter
Way, you can decide for yourself. We tweet. You follow. So simple.
Go to the News & Events section www.twitter.com/hgse
of the school’s website to watch the
Tom kates
first few videos. facebook
We’re the Facebook friend approved by your boss.
www.facebook.com/HarvardEducation
This past semester, students in
28
Assistant Professor Jal Mehta’s
Introduction to Educational Policy
youtube
class found themselves in the world Yup, we have a YouTube channel!
of wikis — websites created and used www.youtube.com/HarvardEducation
collectively by a group around a com-
mon topic. What they discovered was flickr
that wikis are complex, labor inten- Photos that capture the school.
Tom kates
jonesfoto
they should be: sports-loving, rough-and-tumble risktakers who think school
illustrators
Jeff Hopkins, Ed.M.’05
isn’t cool.
Leigh Wells
copyeditor These stories illustrate ways that young people, parents, and educators can resist pressures as they struggle to cope with the chal-
Abigail Mieko Vargus lenges in their lives. Students with a history of incarceration have found support in Noel Gomez, Ed.M.’06, and the Transitions
© 2010 by the President and re-entry program he runs at Santa Barbara City College. In China, this first generation is just starting to become parents, and
Fellows of Harvard College.
Ed. magazine is published three Class Act some say they will try to ease the pressure on their own children. And when it comes to raising and teaching boys, the authors say
times a year, free of charge, parents still have a great deal of influence on their children — more than they probably realize.
for alumni, faculty, students,
and friends of the Harvard
As Noel Gomez, Ed.M.’06, points out in Ed. magazine’s first multimedia slideshow that photo-
Graduate School of Education. grapher Ed Carreón created to accompany this issue’s cover story, many of the students in his I found myself ruminating on Senior Lecturer Ron Ferguson’s words in “Outside Chance.” “The ego can get in the way of being
This issue is No. 3 of Vol. LIII,
Summer 2010. Third-class
Transitions program look intimidating, but as the other students in class soon learn, “behind fully receptive to someone trying to help you,” he says. We, as educators, need to identify learners experiencing pressure and strive
postage paid at Burlington, VT those tattoos and that image is a human being.” to help them develop coping strategies both in and out of school.
and additional offices.
POSTMASTER: Send address To view the slideshow and to hear Gomez in his own words, go to www.gse.harvard.edu/ed.
changes to:
Harvard Graduate School of Sincerely,
Education
Office of Communications
44R Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
www.gse.harvard.edu
4 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 5
the appian way
What motivates students to become interested in working in You mentioned that success in algebra is widely recognized as
science, technology, engineering, or math fields, referred to in the critical to students’ future success. In what way?
academic world as STEM careers? Although there have been There have been a variety of studies that have linked success
numerous studies looking at student motivation, most have in algebra to future educational and career opportunities.
used just one type of activity to engage students. In their new For example, completing a course beyond Algebra II in high
research project, Professor Chris Dede and Assistant Professor school more than doubles the odds that a student who enters
Jon Star are using three technology-based activities, all rooted college will complete a bachelor’s degree. Another study found
in algebra, once called the “new civil right” by one algebra more than three-quarters of students who took Algebra I and
advocate. The study, which started in January and will end in Geometry went on to college within two years of high school
three years, is classroom-based and is expected to involve about graduation, while only one-third of students who did not take
5,000 students in grades five to nine. For four days, the students Algebra I and Geometry courses did so.
will be presented with a real problem and will then learn how
algebra concepts can ultimately help them solve the problem. In Your study starts with a one-day “induction” activity. Students
January, Dede and Star jointly answered questions about why a will either watch a traditional video, become a STEM profes-
study like this is necessary, why framing it in algebra made the sional in an online, multiuser video environment, or watch as a
most sense, and how movies like Star Wars and E.T. may help. teacher describes the problem. Why three different formats?
We are contrasting different types of motivation to see which
Is there a reason to be concerned about student interest in is effective with various types of students. That is, we don’t
STEM careers? Is the STEM pipeline in trouble? expect to find one approach universally better than the others,
Job prospects in the United States have changed both because but rather a complex pattern of effectiveness that may vary by
of the shift to a global economy and because of a change in age, by gender, by ethnicity, and by academic achievement.
this country from an industrial economy to a knowledge and
services economy. Many blue-collar and low-level white-collar The problem students will solve involves space exploration. Was
jobs have disappeared. To have quality lifestyles, students this to hook them in?
need to graduate with more sophisticated skills than they did Space science is a field that interests students of many ages.
historically. Also, to compete globally, the United States needs Both boys and girls find space exploration interesting, and
to increase its STEM jobs to aid with knowledge production. the entertainment industry has provided many engaging
For all these reasons, there is a crisis in how many students backstories, such as Star Trek, Star Wars, and E.T. Many issues
mark morelli
are interested in and competent in mathematics. in space science are related to the types of mathematics that
underlie algebra.
Why algebra?
NameS: Chris Dede and Jon Star TitleS: professor and assistant professor Algebra is a “gatekeeper” subject; students who don’t do well What kind of space-related problem will they be solving?
in this course or who don’t take it have precluded their career It is more accurate to imagine that students in a particular
Focus: motivating students through mathematics options in a variety of jobs related to science, technology, grade will solve multiple problems that emerge from a single
engineering, and mathematics. We want both to interest a situation. For example, interplanetary explorers may encoun-
wider variety of students in taking algebra and to help those ter trouble on their spaceship; math, and algebra in particular,
“We want both to interest a wider variety of students students succeed through better ways of teaching algebra. will enable students to investigate the explorers’ troubles and
help generate solutions.
in taking algebra and to help those students succeed Why do students find algebra so difficult?
through better ways of teaching algebra.” Some students struggle in algebra because they lack important Is algebra really a “new civil right”?
prerequisite skills, including facility with and understanding This strong statement is attributed to civil rights activist Bob
of fractions and fluency with basic number operations. For Moses. Moses founded the Algebra Project, a widely influen-
others, algebra itself is inherently difficult, in that it is a sig- tial mathematics literacy intervention focusing on low-income
nificant leap in abstraction from the arithmetic that is taught students and students of color. With this statement, Moses
It Stems from Algebra in elementary school. For these and other reasons, too many
students struggle in algebra.
was stressing the critical importance of success in algebra to
students’ ability to fully participate in today’s society.
By Lory Hough
6 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 7
Daniel Beaupré with students from
the Mary Hogan Elementary School,
Middlebury, Vt.
trent campbell
eventually began working at the National a group of students to Washington, D.C., to help write a policy
Geographic Society, the big maps were brief for a member of Congress. The site, administered by the
still on his mind. He wondered: If he Harvard Alumni Association, is user driven: Every member
could blow maps up even larger, perhaps And it’s not just the visual wow factor that makes the maps of the Harvard community can enter and edit his or her own
enough to cover a gymnasium floor, would teachers be popular: They are also surprisingly interactive. information, and can set privacy settings. The interactive map
interested in renting them to help supplement their geogra- “Not only are people permitted to walk on the maps, they is searchable and color-coded by alumni, student, faculty, staff,
phy lessons? are asked to walk, run, roll,” Beaupré says. “We want this to be and organization. A Facebook friend network and news feed Visit http://onthemap.harvard.edu to learn more and
Based on his classroom experience, he sensed they would, as much a physical experience as a mental experience.” Giant will be available to users who log in using Facebook Connect. to register.
but pitching the idea to his new bosses would need to be done props such as oversized dice, colored cones, and stacking
at the right time. “At National Geographic, great ideas are bricks are also included for use with the activities, which are
walking through the door every day,” he says. tied to curriculum.
And then the right time came. It was September 2005 “There’s a certain Barnum & Bailey aspect to this,” Beaupré Jennifer and Sam
and National Geographic had just devoted an entire issue to admits, “but I’ve been careful in how the maps are portrayed.
one subject: Africa — a rarity for the magazine that has been They are fun, but also content-driven and educational.”
published since 1888. Inserted in the issue was a fold-out map
of the continent.
For example, students may spend time in class learning
about where crops are grown across the United States. Later,
Observant Student By Lory Hough
“That’s when I seized the moment,” Beaupré says. “The stars moving to the map, the teacher will place hula hoops on dif-
were aligned.” National Geographic decided to produce the ferent regions to test what they’ve learned. He or she holds up When Jennifer Anderson, Ed.M.’09, was about seven years old, she
first map, a 25’ x 36’ recreation of Africa, which was eventually oversized food props such as carrots or bananas and students would sit on the floor of her bedroom in Brookline, Mass., with a
trucked in a gigantic black plastic tube to a school in Northern throw a bean bag into the hoop where they think the crop row of toys and stuffed animals facing her little brother, Sam, who
Wisconsin. Five years later, there are now 10 vinyl maps of is grown. Students rack up points for being correct and for was four years younger. Patiently she would watch. And wait. And
Africa, Asia, and North America, with the biggest stretching simply hitting the target. then he’d make his move.
31’ x 41’. Each weighs, on average, about 145 pounds. Beaupré An important force behind the activities is that they get “I’d go running into the living room and report to my parents,
believes they are the biggest portable maps in the world. participants moving. “We don’t want kids sitting on the ‘He chose the blue one!’” Anderson says.
betsy anderson
Eventually he wants to add other continents and also produce sideline listening to a teacher lecture,” Beaupré says. Nor do It was her way of recreating the many observational studies that
even larger maps that could be used in major public spaces they want adults being passive. Although schools primarily both she and her brother had been a part of at Harvard while her
like football stadiums. rent the maps, museums and festivals sometimes use them, father, Donald, was getting his Ph.D. in clinical psychology and her
As he had hoped, teachers and students love using them. too. Recently, the National Guard of Wyoming rented the mother, Betsy, was working as a research assistant in the psychol- Now living in Indonesia with her husband and two children,
“The maps make geography an event, something much Asia map to help local children better understand where their ogy department. There was even a study done by researchers at ages three and seven, Anderson wonders how much that experi-
more dynamic than a standard study in a classroom,” he says. mothers and fathers were deployed. the Harvard Graduate School of Education that Anderson was ence of being involved in studies and growing up in an education-
“A map makes it physical. Plus the ephemeral nature of it adds Beaupré says the shelf life for each map, which is given a reminded of last June at commencement. rich environment has influenced what she has done with her life.
to its value — it’s a moment.” nickname, is about three years. The first map, “Beverly,” was “After the ceremony, I was having dinner with my family and A glance at her resume speaks volumes: She’s worked, both in the
There is definitely a buzz that is created once the map recently retired and is in the process of being donated to the friends when my mom pulled out a letter,” Anderson says. It was United States and abroad, at child development centers, schools,
arrives at a school, Beaupré says. Initially the teacher who Nairobi National Museum in Kenya with the help of fellow dated September 10, 1974, and thanked her parents for allowing universities, and volunteer teaching programs. A few years ago,
orders the map will assume it will be used only with his or Harvard Graduate School of Education alum, Joseph Lekuton, the research team to follow Anderson at the Harvard Law School she cofounded a bilingual school in Bali, Indonesia.
her students. But once the other teachers and students see the Ed.M.’03, a member of the Kenyan parliament. Child Care Center for a year. “I feel lucky to have had these early educational experiences
map unrolled on the gym floor, they all want to use it. “How funny to look at the stationery and see the words Larsen and to have grown up in the Boston area,” she says. “I realize that’s
“I’m not exaggerating this,” Beaupré says. “[The map] has a To learn more, go to http://events.nationalgeographic. Hall at the top of the page,” she says. “It was a nice way of capping what fueled my interest in a good education for everyone. I’ve
powerful effect on people. It arrests them.” com/events/special-events/giant-traveling-maps. off my year back in Cambridge. It felt like I had come full circle.” seen what a great school can look like.”
8 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 9
the appian way
5 Reasons to Know ...
Five graduating Ed.M. students
Jeff Layton
Technology, Innovation, and Education
It started by chance. Working as a substitute teacher
while pursuing acting, Jeff Layton was unimpressed
with the “educational” videos left behind by the
teachers for him to show. He decided to produce
his own, including the latest about the gold rush
that won best educational short at the Kids First!
Film Festival. While at Harvard, he interned at Kim Snodgrass
tanit sakakini
PBS and with a unit of Scholastic that creates Risk and Prevention
educational software for schools. Her early schooling was sporadic,
bouncing back and forth between
foster care and her mother. As a child,
she lived alone with her younger
siblings in the mountains. Since then, Chike Aguh
she’s become a staunch advocate for Education Policy and Management
traumatized youth and interned at His parents came from a small village in Nigeria.
several related Boston nonprofits. The His father, now a physician, returns every year
author of two books on foster children, to provide free medical care. This public service
including I Am a Foster Child and That’s ethos inspired Chike Aguh to help troubled
Okay with Me, her goal is to start a teens stay in school in New York City and teach
residential school for foster children. in Thailand as a Fulbright scholar. Next fall, he’ll
start MPA and MBA programs at the Harvard
Kennedy School and the Wharton School at the
University of Pennsylvania.
12 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • Summer 2010 13
the appian way
Separate Ways By Lory Hough
CAMPUS BRIEFS
The landmark 1954 decision Brown v. Board course, but instead often use Ed.L.D. Press
of Education didn’t end segregation in schools. the phrase “local control” to The launch of the Ed
What did change, says Erica Frankenberg, defend their case. School’s new doctoral
Ed.M.’02, Ed.D.’08, in her new study, “Traditionally, in a lot of program in educational
“Splintering School Districts: Understanding the historical research that leadership clearly struck a
the Link Between Segregation and I did, the vague notion of chord in the national press.
Fragmentation,” is the nature of segrega- wanting control over the A segment on CBS Evening
tion, especially in the South. students is not surprising,” News highlighted the
Using one county in Alabama as her she says. “Historically, program as a solution to
case study, Frankenberg, the research and ‘local control’ is one of the the problems in education,
policy director of the Initiative on School arguments for segregation and Bob Herbert dedicated
Integration at UCLA’s Civil Rights Project, in general.” a New York Times column
martha stewart
found that in the aftermath of the Brown case, She adds, “The rhetoric to the degree saying, “The
segregation was primarily within districts; today of local control obscures idea is to develop dynamic
it is primarily between districts, with individual cities separate and unequal new leaders who will offer
and towns pulling away from larger countywide school conditions that have resulted the creativity, intellectual Ed Head
districts that had once been a factor in increasing integration, jeff Hopkins, ed.m.’05 when small, new school systems rigor and professional- On February 26, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan spoke at the school on a variety
to form their own smaller — and often not integrated — form that are racially identifiable. In the creation of separate ism that is needed to help of topics including the administration’s plans for revamping No Child Left Behind, the chal-
school districts. districts, local control has the same effect of maintaining seg- transform public education lenge of evaluating teachers, and the importance of focusing on higher education attainment.
“I first became aware of this process of fragmentation — regation — to a large extent — of black and white students.” in the U.S.” To watch the speech, visit our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/HarvardEducation.
the creation of entirely separate school districts — when one In an article about Frankenberg’s study that was published
community in the county I grew up in, Mobile County, started in The Birmingham News in December, U.W. Clemon, a retired
to propose this,” she says. “I did some reading and realized U.S. district court judge who was involved in desegregation
Poster Child The Forbes 14 (Not the Fortune 500)
how easy this is to do in Alabama.” Any city in the state with cases in the 1960s, said that as a result of fragmentation, the
Speakers at the Askwith Forums are Forbes recently named 14 educa-
5,000 residents is allowed to form a separate school district schools in Jefferson County are “resegregated” today, and not
usually the ones that make news. But on tors — including six members of the
with just a vote of the residents. by accident.
April 22, the speaker had to share the HGSE community — “revolutionary
The result is that segregation increases as more school “In my view,” he said, “it was very clear that the reason for
spotlight with the poster. Eric Carle, best educators” who are “shaking up how
districts are created. In Jefferson County, Alabama’s most the creation of those new school systems was to avoid the obli-
known as the author and illustrator of The we educate our most disadvantaged
densely populated county and the focus of her case study, gation to desegregate.”
Very Hungry Caterpillar, created original kids.” Ed School folks included:
which began as her qualifying paper while she was a doctoral This pattern of fragmenting districts is not unique to
artwork for the poster advertising his talk, Academic Dean Robert Schwartz,
student, there were only a few districts when the Brown case Jefferson County or Alabama, Frankenberg says, which is why
“The Education of a Good Picture Writer.” C.A.S.’68; Harlem Children’s Zone
said that separate could not be equal. Using Census and other it’s critical that we “fully understand the longterm conse-
President and CEO Geoffrey Canada,
educational data, Frankenberg found that just a few years later, quences of this process in newly created districts.” In addition
Ed.M.’75; Posse Foundation President
starting in 1959, residents in predominantly white com- to affecting housing and population patterns, she says numer- Data Strategies and Founder Deborah Bial, Ed.M.’96,
munities began to leave the county’s school system, despite ous studies show that there are both academic and socializa- Harvard’s Center for Education Policy Ed.D.’04; New Leaders for New
Jefferson County being under a desegregation order. Today tion benefits in attending integrated schools and that high- Research, based at the Ed School, has Schools CEO and cofounder Jon
there are 12 separate school districts. As these new, smaller quality teachers tend to leave racially isolated minority schools launched a new initiative to help school Schnur, GSE’00; former U.S. Deputy
districts formed, the number of white students in the larger (but not overwhelmingly white schools) at higher rates. districts and state leaders increase Secretary of Education Mike Smith,
Jefferson County district decreased. For example, in 1968, 60 Frankenberg’s interest in these issues isn’t simply academic. student achievement and attainment Ed.M.’63, Ed.D.’70; and U.S. Secretary
percent of students in the county were white. By 2005, the Murphy High, the school she attended in Mobile, was one of through data-informed decisionmaking. of Education Arne Duncan, a former
figure had dropped to 43 percent, while cities like Trussville the first in Alabama to begin integrating black and white stu- The Strategic Data Project will help HGSE visiting committee member.
and Vestavia Hills, once part of the larger district but now dents in 1963, despite public protests by the state’s then-gover- states and districts assemble and analyze
separate, were each more than 80 percent white. Other nor, George Wallace, who famously said during his inaugural their student and teacher data, providing
breakaway cities were initially largely white but have since address that same year, “Segregation now, segregation tomor- policymakers with information about To learn more about
transitioned, some quite rapidly, to become overwhelmingly row, segregation forever.” Although she attended the school trends on student graduation and college- these briefs, go to
minority districts. three decades later, its legacy made a lasting impression. going, the effectiveness of teachers and www.gse.harvard.edu/
Frankenberg says that those who propose redrawing “It was a remarkable experience,” she says, “and certainly eric carle
schools, and human capital management. news_events.
district lines never explicitly say it’s about race or class, of informed what I do now.”
14 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 15
Outside Chance
After years in and around the criminal justice
system, students find that their best hope for
staying off the streets and in school is to get
support, especially from other students who
are making the same transition.
By gina piccalo
Photography by ed carreón
Ismael Hernandez
He’s a community college counselor ingly high. Of the 700,000 people released from U.S. prisons
who specializes in students more conventionally known as each year, two-thirds will be rearrested within three years.
“lost causes.” They come from the streets, from drug addic- (The United States has the world’s highest prison population:
tion, from juvenile halls, and prisons. And, like Noel Gomez, 2.3 million. That’s a 500 percent increase over the last 30 years,
Ed.M.’06, their lives started in poverty in communities that despite a relatively stable crime rate.) The reasons why are
share more in common with war-torn developing nations than myriad. This group is wrestling with substance abuse, post-
most people’s notions of America. Some of them are one strike traumatic stress disorder, poverty, and the lure of their old
shy of life in prison. Others have never known an adult life lives. Keeping them in college demands constant peer sup-
outside the criminal justice system. College was the last place port, state and federal financial aid, an open-minded college
any of them expected to end up. board, and the willingness to let these students take three steps
Yet there they were on a cloudless day in January in a con- backward for every one they take forward. As Gomez admits,
ference room with the hint of an ocean view on the campus “It doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to be successful just
of Santa Barbara City College (SBCC), swapping heartbreak- because they’ve been through the program.”
ing stories but still laughing, still inspired to move forward. It’s a big commitment on all sides. But as cash-strapped
Gomez is one of the key reasons these people showed up at states seek to cut costs by reducing prison populations, it is
all. A native of Boyle Heights in East Los Angeles, he grew up heartening to know models like this one work.
in the gang capital of America in the turbulent early 1990s. Educating people who have spent years behind bars is just
His cousins were members of one of largest, most powerful as much about compassion and humanity as it is about effec-
gangs in the region. But Gomez, 26, had to cross two turfs to tive study habits and good test scores, say their counselors and
get to school. teachers. People who have served time say they are dropped
“If I’d pled allegiance to any of these gangs, I would have back into the world with shattered identities, better prepared to
Tia Macias
been dead in two or three days,” he says. resume their criminal careers than they are to live healthy lives.
So he stayed out, got through high school, and against the They say it takes them years to heal the dehumanizing experi-
advice of a school counselor, applied — and got accepted — to ence of prison, where every day is a test of stamina, an exercise
the University of California, Santa Barbara. in humiliation, where people learn to sign a Department of “The ego can get in the way of being fully receptive to some- need to find motivation to succeed at school. I need to know
“I just wanted to get out,” he says, wiping away the tears, Corrections ID number instead of their given names because one trying to help you,” says Senior Lecturer Ronald Ferguson, how to read, how to study.”
“but at the same time, solve all these problems.” they are the property of the government. director of Harvard’s Achievement Gap Initiative. “There’s the
He can still hardly believe he got into Harvard, let alone Even before prison, though, people who have been incarcer- fear that they won’t be able to understand the help. They’re
graduated with a master’s. But Gomez’s journey is what ated say they often endured early lives that were virtually bereft afraid somebody’s going to try to explain something to them The “tough on crime” legislation of the
inspired these students to take what for them was a terrify- of compassion. Many of Gomez’s students, for example, had and they’re not going to understand. There’s a fear of being last 30 years has, according to prison education advocates, cre-
ing leap of faith and join SBCC’s six-week summer program indifferent teachers who taught them in underfunded and ne- overwhelmed by the help.” ated a sort of lost generation. These are the people Gomez seeks
called Transitions. glected schools. Many of them never reached the ninth grade. One of the student founders of the Transitions program, out, the ones who, like 30-year-old Transitions student Phillip
There, Gomez and others teach them how to navigate the They learned that crime paid better. So their criminal records Martin Leyva, took that chance. Now 37, he left prison for Silva, describe their experience of school this way: “You sit in a
campus, how to write essays, and read a syllabus, but also became their resumes on the streets and a source of enormous the last time three years ago. He landed at Santa Barbara City corner and you don’t feel like you’re worth nothing.” Gomez says
how to build trust, how to stay out of trouble, how to believe respect among their peers. Leaving that world for the so-called College in 2008 after his felony record got in the way of a series many of his students were labeled as troublesome by middle
in themselves. “legitimate” life typically demands years of delayed gratification of jobs. For him, education was the only chance he had of earn- school and sent to so-called “continuation schools” that “have
“A lot of these students were individuals the school system and long-shot odds. ing a legal, livable wage. After a few lonely weeks on campus, he this approach of educating them as criminals. Somehow the
failed years ago,” he says. So he doesn’t chide them if they slip “I’m working at McDonald’s now,” says Transitions student recognized a lot of the faces in his classes from the probation administrators have this assumption that these kids are done.”
back into their old habits, get arrested, or disappear. Instead, Ismael Hernandez, 19, who left his last probation camp last office. He knew that, like him, they were living in isolation, From there, Gomez and his students say, it’s just a short
when they do show up, Gomez tells them, “As long as you’re year and is now earning a 3.5 GPA. “I could easily make more members of the same group of refugees. On one hand, he found step to prison. That’s because people who are essentially raised
still here, that’s all that matters.” money slinging dope. I could make $400 quickly. I don’t want an odd sense of comfort in that loneliness. As Leyva put it, in prison-like environments become more comfortable inside
In its first two years, Transitions has proven a spectacular to do that.” “I’d rather exile myself from society because I’m already used them than they are in society. Once they’re released, they’re
success. Nearly all the students who participated in the sum- Cesar Oyervides-Cisneros, Ed.M.’07, knows this story well. to society exiling me, putting me in jails, prisons, and other often socially stunted. Gomez recalled his first face-to-face
mer enrolled in the fall semester and about half continued into He and another alum, Ariela Friedman, Ed.M.’07, work at the institutions.” On the other, Leyva realized that his best hope of meeting with a middle-aged man who’d been imprisoned since
the spring. They say they come back for the relationships they Manhattan-based nonprofit The Door, helping teenagers leave success was to build a network of like-minded people. age 13 and was eager to join Transitions. First, though, he had
forged and the extraordinary sense of achievement that every gangs and the street life by showing them options. So in the spring of 2008, Leyva started a support group to get used to close human contact again.
day on campus brings them. Most striking, though, is the fact “It takes some work to convince young people that this for people on parole on campus as part of the school’s state- “He says, ‘This is uncomfortable because there’s nothing
that they all graduate from Transitions with more hope than is the more beneficial route,” says Oyervides-Cisneros. “We funded, federally mandated Extended Opportunity Programs dividing me and you,’” Gomez recalls the student saying as they
any of them have known in their lives. conduct classes and workshops where they discuss openly the and Services department, which aids the low-income and sat in his office. “‘I’m not used to that. I haven’t had physical
“I rely on this program like it’s my life,” says one of Gomez’s different ways people make money. We talk about drug dealing, otherwise disadvantaged students. That led the department’s contact with an individual for such a long time.’”
students, Tia Macias, a recovering addict now studying to be a risk factors, benefits, how long can you be in this type of job, director, Marsha Wright, to establish Transitions and select Today, one of every 31 adult Americans is in jail, prison,
drug and alcohol counselor. “It is my life.” what you need to be aware of, and the risks and benefits of Gomez to advise the group and recruit new students each or on probation. Prison populations have ballooned to
Transitions is modest as so-called “re-entry” programs legitimate employment.” month at the county’s monthly parole board check-ins. There, catastrophic proportions. California, for instance, has been
go. But its success is an especially marked achievement for a The greatest challenge for this group, though, can be the Gomez often starts conversations with the question: “What ordered by a three-judge federal panel to release more than
population whose chances of returning to prison are stagger- willingness to reach out for help. do you need to succeed?” The answers are always the same: “I 40,000 people from prison by December 2011 because it
18 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 19
Martin Leyva
Rebound, the Bard Prison Initiative, the Inside-Out Prison- tattoos and barefoot children playing at the feet of brooding
Exchange Program at Temple University, Boston University’s gangbangers.
Prison Education Program, and the Education Justice Project “Every time I look at those,” Gomez says, pointing to one
at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign, to name a few, photo in the background in which stands his late uncle, barely
are still proving the benefits of higher education in prison. discernible, “it reminds me of home.”
Their results lead others to help. In 2003, Alabama Prison Gomez shares more with the Transitions students than
Arts and Education took root at Auburn University and is now he did with his fellow Harvard classmates or any of the other
creating libraries and teaching arts at 18 prisons in the state. In SBCC students milling around campus. Some of his most for-
Boston, Bunker Hill Community College has for the last two mative experiences were with heroin addicts and ex-cons. By
years funded classes for about a dozen people with criminal age 10, Gomez had seen his first drive-by shooting, watching
records. After they graduate, the students are required to give as a young man fell bleeding. Even his middle school basketball
back to the community by volunteering at approved nonprofits. practice was interrupted by gunfire.
Last fall, Wesleyan University launched its privately funded, From this vantage point, it’s no surprise that Gomez
two-year pilot program, the Center for Prison Education, considered Harvard “unobtainable.” But unlike the students he
which offers a liberal arts education to inmates at Cheshire mentors, Gomez wasn’t burdened with a criminal record. He
Correctional Institute. had just enough moxie to get beyond his disadvantages. Even
And in September 2008, Stern and Bruce Western, direc- so, his first semester at UC-Santa Barbara was still tough.
tor of the Multidisciplinary Program in Inequality and Social “Professors were expecting me to write 10- and 12-page
Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, launched the Prison papers,” he says. “I didn’t know what a midterm was. I didn’t
Studies Project, which developed a four-year partnership know how to study for a midterm. It blew me away. I remember
with Boston University’s Prison Education Program and the passing one or two classes that quarter.” Ultimately, he buckled
Phillip Silva
Massachusetts Department of Correction. The program allows down. He lived in the library. He used the tutors. “I totally
Harvard students to take college courses inside prisons along- disconnected myself from everything,” he says, “and said, ‘This
simply cannot provide them proper healthcare. That order income people. It’s a real class issue. What better population side students admitted to Boston University as full students is my opportunity.’”
came just two weeks after Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to demonize than the people with a criminal record?” while incarcerated. Stern has co-taught two courses at MCI Gomez hopes to instill a similar sense of confidence and
cut $1.2 billion from the state’s prison budget. (The court put But the political will is shifting. Federal agencies, gover- Norfolk and a third course at MCI Framingham, the oldest drive in his Transitions students. He teaches a personal devel-
its order on hold in January, pending further review.) nors, and lawmakers are focusing unprecedented attention on women’s prison in the United States. opment class covering everything from test-taking and money
Despite the mammoth problem of overcrowding, the helping people on parole integrate into society and stay out of At one of Stern’s so-called “inside/out” classes, Harvard management to self-defeating behaviors and learning styles.
federal government still denies funding for the one service that prison. The passage of the Second Chance Act of 2008 signaled students gather each week inside the prison’s school building Guest speakers — experts on prison abolitionism, cultural
people coming out of prison rank at the top of their “needs” this about-face, granting $165 million per year to help state and for a three-hour “urban sociology” seminar with the incarcer- history, and gang intervention, as well as people who have left
list and that research repeatedly has shown dramatically local governments and community groups provide education, ated Boston University students. Everyone works together gang life to achieve extraordinary academic success — help
reduces recidivism: a college education. (Notably, only one of drug treatment, housing, jobs, and counseling. The law also throughout the semester to find solutions to problems of race, augment the lesson. He also leads a mandatory weekly support
California’s 33 prisons has an on-site college program.) The mandated that the Justice Department increase research on poverty, crime, and gang violence. Initially, the contrast is group to give students a chance to vent, forge friendships, and
Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 pro- reentry issues. That same year, the department, and others, set striking between the incarcerated and the nonincarcerated cultivate a sense of belonging. Every Friday, the group takes
hibited students with felony records from receiving Pell Grants, guidelines to help state governments and community organiza- students. But over time, they become powerful collaborators. a field trip to places like the Museum of Tolerance, Dodger
ending 350 prison education programs overnight, despite the tions work together to support ex-prisoners. For the students who don’t leave the prison after class, this is Stadium, or to Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, the nation’s
fact that prison education accounted for less than 1 percent of Much of this renewed interest is motivated by the nation’s an invaluable dose of humanity. largest gang intervention and re-entry program.
the Pell Grant budget. worst financial crisis in 80 years. It costs exponentially more “People who are mistreated know they’re mistreated and For Leyva, Transitions helped underscore his own com-
“It was devastating,” recalls Kaia Stern, director of Pathways to imprison people — an estimated $50 billion a year — than know that our justice system is broken,” says Stern. “Students mitment to change. He is now a certified substance abuse
Home and the Prison Studies Project at the Charles Hamilton it does to educate them. Whatever the real motivator for the in prison have historically been excluded from educational counselor and sociology major who mentors young people
Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School. change, though, research shows that society will benefit as a opportunity and they can’t learn when they’re being objectified. and won’t be satisfied until he earns a master’s degree from
“People who had worked for decades getting books into prison result. There’s a well-proven correlation between education They may not be able to articulate dehumanization but they Stanford University. By his own admission, this is a profound
libraries were suddenly shipping them out.” and lower crime rates, reduced recidivism, and healthier com- can feel it. And when they’re in a classroom space, which can evolution for a guy raised by drug-addicted convicts, who by
People in prison, she says, are often seen as undeserving of munities, Stern reminds us. be a kind of sacred space, being listened to, where no questions age 10 considered himself tough enough to survive the streets,
education. She points out that society is largely ignorant of the “And people are pushing now to figure out how to use this are stupid, it resonates that this is a real learning environment and by adulthood was an expert carjacker handy with a 9 mm.
fact that about two-thirds of all people behind bars are serving knowledge as momentum,” she says. “People are starting to and education is deeply transformative.” “I learned so much about myself, my history, why I am the
time for nonviolent offenses, so taxpayers wonder why “the think creatively.” way I am,” he says. “I’ve learned acceptance and I’ve learned to
murderer” is getting a “free ride.” In New Jersey this year, the legislature is considering a $12 give it on to the next person.”
“Yes, too many law-abiding Americans are struggling to million package of bills that would not only mandate education A large Aztec sun stone hangs on one wall
pay back their student loans, but what’s up with the myth and job training in prisons, but also make people on parole of Noel Gomez’s tiny office. It is here that parolees get their — Gina Piccalo is a freelance writer based in California. This
that there’s not enough education to go around?” asks Stern. eligible for food stamps and other welfare programs. first taste of college life. The vibrant colors of two Mexican is her first piece in Ed. magazine. Ed.
“Kerala, in South India, has a 91 percent literacy rate. We’re Naturally, the academic community, though seriously zarapes brighten the small space. But a visitor’s eye is immedi-
doing something gravely wrong in the United States. And the thwarted by the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement ately drawn to the dozens of black and white photos depicting
resistance to education behind bars speaks to a larger issue of Act of 1994, hasn’t given up on this population. Long-standing East Los Angeles gang life. These are haunting images shot To view the multimedia slideshow that accompanies
access to quality post-secondary education for low- and mid- programs such as San Francisco State University’s Project by documentary photographer Joseph Rodriguez of guns and this story, go to www.gse.harvard.edu/ed.
20 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 21
one
24 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 25
that he didn’t have to waste time walking to the refrigera- However, since one-child went into effect, singleton daugh- “Some say they were lonely as only children,” Fong says.
tor. A mother put paste on her son’s toothbrush every ters have enjoyed unprecedented parental support because “Some of the students from poorer families say that with
morning before he woke so that he could focus entirely on they do not have to compete. limited resources, they are glad they didn’t have a sibling and
his lessons. “Low fertility enabled mothers to get paid work, and thus now they don’t want their child to go without. Some who
Fong says, “From 6:30 a.m. until 8 p.m., students might gain the ability to demonstrate their filiality by providing their initially resisted say, ‘My parents meant well,’ and they appreci-
be in school.” High school students also attend on weekends own parents with financial support,” Fong says. “Because their ate them.”
and for part of the summer. “The culture really says all kids mothers have already proven that daughters can provide their Others are starting to follow the same patterns — but
should be in school at all times. It’s a lot of pressure.” parents with old age support, and because singletons have no even earlier.
Part of that has to do with the country’s rigorous and brothers for their parents to favor, daughters have more power “Some in this generation of ‘perfect children’ now want to
all-important exams, the first given in junior high to deter- than ever before to defy disadvantageous gender norms while be ‘perfect parents,’” she says. “Some mothers can get their
mine what kind of high school you’ll go to. Dalian’s junior using equivocal ones to their own advantage.” two-year-olds to recite the entire English alphabet, count to
high exam in 1999 tested students on Chinese, math, a 100, read more than 100 Chinese characters, speak more than
foreign language, physics, and chemistry. 60 words in English, recite 10 Tang-era Chinese poems, and
“As a 15-year-old, how well you do on that exam deter- Singleton Futures recite the multiplication table up to 9x9.”
mines your future socioeconomic life,” Fong says. “And it’s More than 12 years after she started her research on the Moving forward, Fong’s research could help officials in
cumulative. Every bit of knowledge you’ve accumulated teenagers of Dalian, “Teacher Fong,” as she became known, China as they struggle with the decision to end, or at least alter,
since birth is going to be tested.” continues to track where they are and how the policy has the one-child policy, as has been widely reported in the media
Students take another high-stakes exam in high affected them. Almost every summer since she left in 1999, recently. In addition to nervousness about an aging population
school, similar to the SAT, called gao kao, or high test, she has gone back for a reunion. The gatherings are partly and no safety net, there are also labor concerns. Factories are
because it’s so important. Fong says that just before social, a way to reconnect with old friends, but also a chance reporting a shortage in the number of young people willing
exam time, talk of the test is heard everywhere — on the to continue observing her subjects, now in their 20s, and to or able to work. There are also not enough white-collar jobs
streets, in houses, and in shops. Students who do well expand on her original research. As an anthropologist, this for every young person as they assumed there would be after
get into the country’s top universities and colleges. Fong has become a gold mine for Fong; she now has a deep catalog studying and sacrificing hard their whole lives.
found that 66 percent of the teenagers she surveyed had of information about this first generation. Initially, in addition In February, the China Daily reported that Zhao Baige, dep-
been tutored in a foreign language in preparation for the to observing, she also conducted a survey of 2,273 teenagers uty director of the National Population and Family Planning
exam, while 88 percent had been privately tutored or had in 1999 (average age 16 at the time), which focused on their Commission, said the policy would “remain unaltered.”
taken private afterschool classes. attitudes, educational histories, family structures, socioeco- In some ways, says Harvard Professor James Watson, a
In an effort to keep students focused, Fong says distract- nomic backgrounds, and interactions with parents. She has China scholar and Fong’s dissertation advisor, the govern-
ing romances between students are widely discouraged and since compiled updated information from about 1,000 of the ment’s decision is almost irrelevant at this point.
extracurricular activities are minimal. Few students play original group — what their college experiences were like, “The Chinese government is resisting the obvious need to
afterschool sports or join clubs like the student newspaper where they work, how their original choices affected their relax or stop the single-child policy, but it doesn’t really matter
or drama. As one Dalian parent told his daughter who had education, and so on. Eventually she hopes to get updates what the government does,” he says. “Urbanites are not inter-
just been accepted to a college prep high school, “Think of from all 2,273. ested in large families and the biggest problem facing China,
yourself as having entered a jail. From now on, you must “A longitudinal study can uncover things that you can’t as well as Korea and Japan, is a general decline of fertility,
focus entirely on your studies. Like a prisoner, you will not when you do a shorter study one time,” Fong says. “I actually especially among the professional classes. Taiwan and Hong
have any freedom to do the things you enjoy.” have data on the decisions these young people made 10 years Kong, two Chinese territories without birth regulation policies,
Another unintended benefit, perhaps one that Westerners ago. It’s great not to have to rely on just their memories.” have the lowest fertility rates in the world. The single-child
would be the most surprised by, is that the one-child policy has One new area that currently interests Fong is how this family policy is a relic of the Cold War and when it finally ends,
Girl Support allowed more girls to get a quality education. first generation of singletons is choosing to parent. She has no one will even notice.”
Despite this, Fong says the emphasis on advanced learning has “Urban daughters born under China’s one-child policy starting tracking their children and will continue to do so More than 30 years after the policy was implemented, Fong
brought some positives to this generation. For starters, limited have benefited from the demographic pattern produced by every two years starting at age two. Currently, the oldest says one child is now part of the culture in China.
free time and tight supervision, while stressful, also means that policy,” Fong writes in her 2002 paper, “China’s One-Child is about four. This second generation under the policy will “Many singletons will not want to even have one child, or
children tend to be less involved in negative activities; drug Policy and the Empowerment of Urban Daughters.” Although eventually be given the same survey that their parents got certainly not more than one or two,” she says. “They tell me
use among this age group is minimal and gangs are uncom- she acknowledges the “devastating effect of gender norms on when they were teenagers. about how expensive it was for their parents, especially educa-
mon. Few have cars. Every child in China is also raised to value daughters” who were born before 1979, and that China’s social “A lot of the kids, when they were kids, would say they’d tion. There is virtually no financial aid in China and lots of
education, no matter where he or she comes from, poverty or structure still has gender inequality, the absence of brothers never pressure their own children the way they were pres- people feel they need to hire tutors and extra help. In addition,
wealth. Everyone has the potential to do better than the previ- has actually allowed girls to push the limits of the glass ceiling. sured,” she says. “They would let their kids play and sleep more, long years of schooling delay marriage and childbearing, Fong
ous generation. “Prior to the one-child policy, most girls were raised to be not study 20 hours a day. They often told me these fantasies points out, especially for women, and not just in China.
“There isn’t this thinking that if your parents are poor, you’re losers,” she writes in her book. Males were favored because about how they would raise their children differently.” “The government is watching this generation carefully,” she
destined to be poor,” she says. “The lower classes feel they can they passed on the family name and got better jobs that could But she’s finding that many are ambivalent — a feeling that says. “Once they see that this generation isn’t going to start
go up, especially if they invest a lot in their one child. The entire better support the family; parents had little incentive to invest reflects the nation’s overall feelings about the policy three having a lot of children, they will let the policy go. It costs
society is supposed to be upwardly mobile.” in daughters. decades later. them a lot of bad press.” Ed.
26 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 27
Oh
BOY
BOY! A new book by three alumni
details how media perpetuates
the myth of hyper-masculinity
By MARY TAMER
I
t is rare for me to gain an assignment as a result of mater- to a downward, multiyear trend in young male achievement. So they did, this time with a third party in tow, fellow Ed books they read, the TV shows they watch. That was a way for
nal profiling, but this was one such occasion. Today, girls perform better in school, graduate at higher rates, School alum Mark Tappan, a developmental psychologist us to identify the things we needed to look at more closely.”
As the mother of two boys, would I be willing to write and earn more college degrees. Boys, on the other hand, have who has also been Brown’s husband since graduate school. Tappan also had some students from one of his Colby
about a new book produced by three Harvard Graduate a greater likelihood of being diagnosed with learning disorders Tappan’s expertise in boys’ development and education, as classes conduct media analysis, sending them to toy stores
School of Education alumni — Lyn Mikel Brown, Ed.D.’89, and placed in special education classrooms. They like school well as media cultural analysis, was a perfect fit, as was his for observational research to help provide what he calls
Sharon Lamb, Ed.M.’80, Ed.D.’88, and Mark Tappan, Ed.D.’87 — less and drop out more. work with the Maine Boys Network, an outreach organization “starting points.”
called Packaging Boyhood: Saving Our Sons from Superheroes, Without question, the root causes of all the aforementioned committed to the positive emotional and academic growth of “We knew we wouldn’t be able to cover everything,” says
Slackers, and Other Media Stereotypes? issues have a multitude of factors and theories behind them, as young men. Tappan. “We missed a lot of music and we didn’t cover the
Without hesitation, I signed on, with the hope of emerg- educators and experts point to issues of race, socioeconomic As Tappan explains, Brown and Lamb invited him to join whole range, but we tried to cover whole genres. In any cat-
ing from the process with a new, media-savvy skill set that background, and male brain structure. But what about the role the project to “tackle this issue of how media and marketers egory, there are things we didn’t look at closely, but we looked
would help me navigate my 9- and 11-year-old sons through media plays? shape the messages they send, and how these messages inform at the most popular video games or the most popular books.”
boyhood intact. Still, as my list of questions for the authors “In general, our culture has taken a laissez-faire attitude the broader culture conversation about boys, their academic Among the books closely reviewed are some found in my
grew, so too did my own queries surrounding whether my about boys, thinking that what they are watching and seeing achievement, and the other issues in their lives.” Data was family’s home library, including the bestselling Harry Potter
husband and I had instilled enough of the right messages in isn’t going to hurt them,” says Tappan, a professor at Colby drawn from an online survey developed by the authors and series — widely considered excellent for the role models and
our children to counteract the growing tsunami of all the College in Maine and director of its education program, “but virally distributed — via teachers, former students, colleagues, positive messages — as well as the wildly popular Diary of a
others around them. Would they remain kind to their friends there’s a wider concern. Most people let their boys play video and parents — to a nonscientific sample of boys attending Wimpy Kid collection, which features Greg, the young “slacker”
and committed to their schoolwork, as we hoped, or move games, watch World Wrestling on TV, and don’t give it a second schools throughout the United States. protagonist who is bullied by his older brother, Roderick,
toward a more stereotypically masculine model that has been thought. Our feeling is they should give it a second thought.” “We tried to get as many boys as we could, or parents of among others. According to my nine-year-old, Greg “stinks at
craftily — and expensively — manufactured and marketed to younger boys,” says Tappan. “We asked school and sports and only has one friend.” Not exactly a figure
young men? them about the clothes they like to wear, to emulate in his mind, yet the stories clearly resonate with
In pursuit of the truth, and armed with the book’s key The Making of Boyhood the music they like others. To date, the series of four books by author Jeff Kinney
points, I posed the first of many questions to my nine-year- Interestingly, the birth of Packaging Boyhood was a direct to hear, the has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide, and his
old regarding whether he thought it was OK for boys to be result of an earlier publication by Brown and Lamb called website receives more than 100,000 hits per day. In March,
considered “smart” in school. Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers’ the movie version of the series was released nationwide.
“It’s OK for now,” he said, “but once boys get to high school, Schemes, which was released in 2006. Tappan says they aren’t telling people not to read
it’s not OK anymore.” As the two authors promoted their award-winning book books like Diary of a Wimpy Kid, but to be cognizant
Before counting all of the ways in which I may have gotten about girls at separate speaking engagements around the of how images are being marketed to boys and can send
lost on the parenting pipeline, my eyes were now fully opened country, both found themselves facing the same question time the message that boys aren’t interested in school.
to the fact that my own son was not immune to the multitude and time again: “What about the boys?” Slackers, for example, are extremely popular in
of external messages swirling around him. Whether they had “I’d get frustrated and think, ‘Why am I supposed to be an movies and television shows now. While lovable,
been delivered by books, TV shows, or simply peer contact, expert on boys?’” says Lamb, who, like Brown, had worked as these couch potato goofs often hate school and have
I didn’t know, but it was clear to me that Brown, Lamb, and a graduate student with former Ed School professor and noted “I don’t care about anything” attitudes.
Tappan did, based, in great part, on what they culled from gender studies author Carol Gilligan. “In some ways it was the “It’s another example of how the slacker image has
their survey of more than 600 boys from around the country other side of the coin” and in some ways, it wasn’t. become more and more pervasive,” he says. “In our book,
on how they perceive their path to manhood as well as what Brown, a professor of education at Colby College and par- we looked at how pervasive the media is in general, and that
may influence them along the way. As the authors note in their ent (together with Tappan) to a 14-year-old daughter, says she is a concern. In all of these examples, our approach as parents
book, and despite the best intentions of parents and teachers, has mixed reactions about the expectation. is that you can’t forbid your kid to encounter these things, but
the influences of media and marketing are “far more pervasive “But I understood because it was the natural question and you can use them as a basis for conversations. Many parents
and insidious” than most of us would ever expect. it made a lot of sense,” she says. “Even when we were writing aren’t having these conversations with their boys about media.”
“They are bombarded by a million different things,” says the first book, it seemed that the media had so commercial- And here’s why they should. As Packaging Boyhood states in
Lamb, a psychotherapist and professor of mental health at the ized gender. When you watch TV and see the ads, there are its introduction, the media’s portrayal of young men is a story
University of Massachusetts, Boston, as well as the mother of rarely any products that cross gender lines. It’s all pink for in which those with the most power often have the wrong
two sons. “I’d rather say there isn’t one thing you are going to girls, and all speed and control and power for boys. Even in kind of power.
show your son that is really bad, but the inescapability of this doing the research for girls we were struck by the fact that “They are the bullies, narcissistic athletes, ‘dogs,’ or ‘play-
is that the messages are all around them. There is a cumulative there was a different set of messages for boys.” ers’ — the ones who call the shots and get the scantily clad,
effect versus one seriously bad, problematic thing.” Given their long history of focusing on girls, however, booty-jiggling, music video girls,” reads the introduction. “It’s
Unfortunately for boys everywhere, that cumulative effect Brown says their initial reaction was, “Can you just let us a story that teaches boys that they need to avoid humiliation
may be leaving its mark. While some experts, educators, focus on girls? So much had already been done on boys, so this at all costs, seek revenge if wronged, dress to impress and in-
and writers dispute the existence of an alleged “boy crisis,” reaction was very familiar and we were almost irritated by it, timidate, be tech savvy, show wealth, and take risks, all while
calling it a myth at best, other experts and indicators tell a but, having done the girl book, it piqued our interest enough pretending they don’t care about any of it. This is the media’s
different tale, one that includes compelling statistics pointing that we wanted to go back to it.” version of boy power.”
30 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 31
Stereotypes Continuing the Conversation And we, as parents, need to be critical viewers as well, able
As the authors discovered, boys are not marginalized or “left Lamb, the mother of two sons, aged 17 and 23, says she was to offer our children commentary and constructive feedback
out” by the media in the same way girls are. Both are told that fortunate to have live research subjects at home, even if they as to what they see, hear, and read in a world that offers a
power is important, but for boys, this means being strong were not always willing participants — a problem I also limited view on the true making of a man, as the authors of
and powerful; for girls, it means having the power to shop encountered when my previously quoted nine-year-old saw his Packaging Boyhood clearly show.
or look sexy. All one has to do is walk down a cereal aisle, or name, since removed, in this article. We also need to listen, regardless of how uncomfortable
peruse movie theater offerings, to see who really is king at the “I’d go see the macho movies and they wouldn’t want to the content of the conversation may be.
box office or on the cereal box. Yet boys are still being put in watch them with me,” says Lamb, who subjected herself to “I think the most important thing always, if we are talking
a defined box, pegged as rough-and-tumble risktakers who violent, action-based films as part of her study. “I’d go out to to boys or girls, is getting our own stuff together as adults,”
embrace a slacker, I-don’t-care lifestyle. movies alone most of the time.” says Brown. “We asked them on the survey, ‘How would you
“Boys are complex, interesting, and hard to pin down,” What her boys did do, however, was clue her in to some like adults to talk to you about this?’ The response was ‘tell
write the authors. “But the way popular culture defines what it disturbing websites, raising the issue that TV alone is not the them calmly’ and ‘stop overreacting.’ We have to get our own
means to be a boy has become narrower and narrower.” enemy in perpetuating gender stereotypes toward children stuff together and deal with our own strong feelings so we can
Tappan, Lamb, and Brown also say that boys and girls, and young adults. have a genuine conversation. . . . You can’t have a conversation
while different, are not as vastly dissimilar as media would “If your children are watching TV, co-viewing with them if you are not willing to listen.”
suggest. All girls, for example, are not boy-crazy, shopa- as much as you can and talking to them about what they are
holic divas, nor are all boys aggression-loving, power- watching is optimal,” says Lamb. “I think we also have to get — Mary Tamer is a Boston-based freelance writer. Her most
hungry players. parents in the mindset that TV is not the villain. Once a child recent stories in Ed. looked at spaced education and the new
But how early do these stereotypical messages begin is over five or six they are bombarded with media, from other presidents program. Ed.
to seep in and what can counteract them? For kids, the Internet, and movies. Adolescents are watching TV
parents who follow the recommendation of the less and less, and they are on the computer more. Over time, Go to www.packagingboyhood.com to learn more
American Academy of Pediatrics of no TV prior we won’t have the same access to what they see, so we need to about the book, resources, and media literacy sites.
to the age of two, where do these messages begin? teach them to be critical viewers.” You can also read a Q & A with the authors.
And, for those of us who purchased dolls and
kitchen sets for our sons along with Legos and
Tonka toys, where did we go wrong?
“Studies show that boys and girls, as infants,
are handled and treated differently by gender, and that
speaks to the way we all . . . interact with kids,” says
Brown. “I think the media impacts children almost im-
mediately because of the way we interact with them, but when
children start to really identify around gender and class and
race is around three years old. Little girls who have a lot of
media influences begin to naturally assume they should like
pink and princesses, and the same is true for boys, who believe
Introducing the S-Word
that they should like dark colors and trucks. Boys are also told
that real boys don’t cry and big boys don’t act this way. As soon as he’s old enough to be sorting out gender and asking You have one very big thing in your favor with little boys: They
“In terms of play, there’s a little more gender bending for what makes a boy a boy and a girl a girl — ages three, four, and love you openly. They want you around. They think you know ev-
girls allowed; girls can do sports, play with trucks, and be five — you can introduce the S-word: stereotype. Maybe not even erything worth knowing. They’re much more likely to believe you
tomboys,” continues Brown. “While this is outside of my photos: Istockphoto.com the word at this young age, but the idea. He’ll be getting mes- than a 30-second commercial or even a row of action figures. So
experience, my inclination is that fantasy is a really important sages everywhere in the media that as a boy he should love all jump in. You might think that distracting him from media images
part of kids coming to know who they are, and being able to “One of our messages in the end is there are still really those other S-words like superheroes, speed, and sports. He’ll get is the best approach at this age, but trust us, it won’t work for long.
cross gender boundaries is a healthy exploration. A boy is not important conversations parents and teachers can have with the message that boys are hyper, tough, and over-the-top, that Stereotypes are so pervasive and marketers are so clever about
going to become a girl because he dresses in girl’s clothing, for boys about the narrow stereotypes that are not benign but emotions (other than aggression and anger) are for girls, and that grabbing his attention, that the best approach is a direct one. You
example, but in this culture, because there is so much anxiety could have an effect on their propensity for violence or their he should enjoy grossing people out with farts and burps. Because are inoculating him, in a sense, by giving him what he needs to
around masculinity, there is pressure for fathers not only to be performance in school or how they treat girls,” says Tappan. these expectations are so pervasive in media, you can begin this fight and resist the toxic messages that will, in time, discourage
masculine themselves but to raise ‘real’ boys.” “At Colby, there is an ongoing concern about the drinking conversation pretty much anytime and anywhere. We recommend him from toys, activities, and people that nurture all sides of his
Nor is a boy going to become a bad guy, say the authors, culture, and by and large the most serious offenders are men. you start with the next trip to the toy store. Thanks to all those personality and provide him with the social and emotional intel-
because he reads some of the books, watches some of the It’s easy to take a ‘boys will be boys’ attitude, but I think pesky marketers, all you’ll need for a lively conversation has been ligence so important for a rich and full life.
shows, or listens to types of music that portray males as less there could be more conversations with boys growing up carefully planned and laid out for you in the pink and blue/black
than exemplary role models. about those kinds of messages.” aisles of Toys “R” Us or Wal-Mart. An excerpt from Packaging Boyhood, pages 271–272.
32 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 33
in the media
Your early books were parents’ guides. How They can be projected onto a SMART and playing the game. So Scholastic knew You’ve recently started illustrating some of
did you get into picture books for children? Board, and kids can come up to “turn it was going to be a hit with kids and your books. Why?
My first book, Learning Through Play pages” and play the educational games their parents, too. The official publica- I started painting in 2000 during a
in 1972, was for parents and teachers. at the end. tion date was [set for] April 1992, but stressful time. I found that painting took
My second book, Close Your Eyes, came Scholastic rushed I SPY into the stores my brain to a peaceful place where it
six years later and was for children. In How did I SPY — your series of books of for the 1991 Christmas season. In 2011, couldn’t be bothered with worrying. I
between, Scholastic had hired me to be picture riddles — come about? it will be 20 years old! I am grateful for its was too busy thinking about the next
the editor of Let’s Find Out, a kinder- When I was editor of Let’s Find Out, I success and all the people at Scholastic color and shape. Watercolor inspires me
garten magazine. I worked with a super went into the office one day and found in who continue to make it happen. to be free and open to whatever hap-
art director, Carol Devine Carson, and my mailbox a promotional picture by a pens on the paper. Also, I can listen to
with fantastic illustrators, one of which photographer named Walter Wick. I did Why write in music while painting! Can’t do that when
was Susan Jeffers. One day I showed not know him, but I loved his photograph what you call writing. At first, I was just going to paint
Susan a poem that I had written when of small hardware store-type objects. “rhythm for fun, but then I tried illustrating. And
my first child was born. She liked it, and It was perfect for kindergarten because and rhyme?” guess what? It was as much fun as mak-
her publisher bought it. That was Close it was beautiful, clear, and interesting. My mother, father, and grandmother ing doll clothes.
Your Eyes. Carol and I asked Walter to make a big recited poems by heart. All the poems I
poster called “Fasteners” of zippers, but- heard and loved had rhythm and rhyme. The books that you illustrate have a soft,
Did it surprise you how many tons, shoelaces, nails, and so on. Walter To me, it’s like music without a tune, classic feel to them, in contrast to the
stories you had in you… did a fabulous job, and we hired him and it comes naturally to me, just the modern sleekness of the I SPY books. Was
130 and counting? again to make a “Welcome to School” way rap does to many children today. Do this conscious?
No. My work is like poster of kindergarten blocks and toys. you know that you can rap every I SPY Thank you. The paint on good water-
oneonone
the work I happily Even though he had never done work book? Fifth-graders in Miami told me color paper comes out soft for me. It just
gave myself in for young children before, his photog- that. It works! seems to happen that way, and I like it. I
with third grade raphy was perfect for them. Eventually, learned Photoshop and was able to put
images: istockphoto.com
when I was Cartwheel Books at Scholastic asked if my painted pieces together like — you
Tom DiMauro
obsessed with mak- Carol, Walter, and I would like to create The child of any age who likes to go on a guessed it — sewing. I did sew most of
ing doll clothes. a book. We all said yes. hunt! As I SPY continues, we need to be my clothes when I was in high school
I never ran out mindful of its kindergarten and college. Now when I am illustrating
Jean Marzollo, M.A.T.’65, considers herself lucky that she graduated from the Ed of ideas then, and I roots. I SPY books do not my books and listening to music, I feel
don’t now. I love to make things! depend on kids understand- like a teenager again.
School at the time that she did. “It was the late ’60s, a boom time for early childhood I love to visit schools and talk with kids ing abstractions, such as
education,” she says, citing the creation of both Head Start (1965) and Sesame Street in grades PreK–3. Kids are interesting, the word “Canada.” If I call And now a question from
(1969) as examples. During this time of national interest and investment in educa- creative, smart, funny, and eager to learn. for “CANADA,” I call for a a fan, my three-year-
tion, Marzollo — after stints teaching English at Arlington [Mass.] High School and I worry that, because of all testing today word spelled in uppercase old daughter. She
in schools, kids will value facts over ideas letters that match. Nor asks: Will you come
working with Harvard’s Upward Bound Program (for disadvantaged teens who were and creative thinking. I’m glad that when does I SPY depend on to our house?
in danger of dropping out) — was inspired to change gears. When former Ed School I was young, no one ever made me fear kids having a knowledge Sure! I have a
34 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 35
in the media ON MY BOOKSHELF: Lecturer Shari Tishman, director of Project Zero
Books Educating Democratic Citizens in Pierre the Penguin: Currently reading: I’m almost finished with much away, but I can say that, so far, the that I do most of my reading for pleasure
Troubled Times: Qualitative Studies A True Story The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. book is very, very good. in bed at night before falling asleep. Many
years ago I read a quote from a writer that
The Art of Funding and of Current Efforts Jean Marzollo
First impressions: Kingsolver is a wonder- Last great read: Two books come to mind: said something to the effect that there is
Implementing Ideas Edited by Janet Bixby and Judith Pace Sleeping Bear Press, 2010
ful writer. I’m more of a maximalist than The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by no better feeling to carry you through the
John Carfora and Arnold Shore SUNY Press, 2008 This children’s book tells Junot Díaz and Waiting by Ha Jin. On the day than the comfort of knowing there’s a
a minimalist in my reading tastes, and I
SAGE, 2010 This book offers a groundbreaking the brave story of Pierre, like the great sweep of her books (anyone surface, these books couldn’t be more good book waiting on your night table. I
This resource provides a step- examination of citizenship education an African penguin at who has read The Poisonwood Bible knows different in tone. The Díaz book is manic haven’t been able to find the source of the
by-step approach to turning a programs that serve contemporary youth the California Academy of Sciences what I mean). I also like her clarity and and intense, linguistically and emotionally quote — but it is so true!
research idea into a proposal in schools and communities across the in San Francisco, who, in 2006, began to her compassion. The main character in bursting at the seams, while Waiting is quiet,
worthy of funding. The United States. These programs include go bald. As he lost the feathers that kept the book is a young man whose unusual ironic, slow-paced, and wistful. But in their Noneducation genre of choice: Fiction main-
authors present a proven approach to the social studies classes and curricula, him warm and made him identifiable to childhood is spent partly in the United very different ways, both books tell fascinat- ly, but not exclusively. To be honest, I love
States and partly in Mexico… . The boy ing stories about yearning, youth, and hope. to read, and I enjoy good books in almost
development of research ideas alongside a school governance, and community-based other penguins, he began to get picked on
eventually finds work in the household of any area. My reading-for-pleasure philoso-
systematic treatment of proposals section- education efforts. The book takes an and stopped swimming in the cold water.
[artists] Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera at Favorite spot to curl up with a good book: phy has always been “top of the genre.”
by-section and project management interdisciplinary approach to exploring Aquatic biologists worked quickly to find One spot I like is a chair by a picture window
the same time as Trotsky and his entou-
function-by-function. Highly accessible, the experiences and perspectives of a solution. They designed a neoprene vest rage came to stay. I don’t want to give too in my living room that looks out onto a How you find the time: If there’s a good
this book gives examples for each educators and youth involved in these that acted as a wet suit and allowed Pierre birdfeeder in the backyard. But the truth is book at hand, time finds me.
aspect of the proposal development and civic education efforts. The contributors to move his wings and flippers. Within six
works through sketches of ideas to fully offer analyses of how mainstream and weeks his feathers began to grow back.
developed proposal sections. John Carfora, alternative programs are envisioned Jean Marzollo, M.A.T.’65, has written more
Ed.M.’93, is executive director for Research and enacted, and of the most important than 130 books and resides in upstate New
Advancement and Compliance at Loyola factors that shape them. A variety York (see page 34).
Marymount University in Los Angeles. of theoretical lenses and qualitative
methodologies are used, including Strike Zone: The Games
The Best of the Best: ethnography, focus group interviews, of Baseball & Money
Becoming Elite at an and content analyses of textbooks. Janet S.L. Hudson
American Bixby, Ed.M.’89, is associate professor of Self-published, 2009
Boarding School education at Lewis and Clark College. A desire to educate young people
Rubén Gaztambide- Judith Pace, Ed.D.’98, is associate on the inner workings of finance
Fernández professor of education at the University of and personal financial management
Harvard University San Francisco. spurred Hudson to write Strike Zone, a
Press, 2009 sports-themed novel following high school
The Best of the Best The Graduate Student freshman Dan Martin’s quest to fund a trip
attempts to unmask the often elite world James Polster to his baseball team’s championship game.
of preparatory boarding schools by Stay Thirsty Press, 2009 The author introduces readers to concepts
examining the educational experiences When anthropology graduate student of negotiation, interest rates, budgeting,
of a group of students attending a Blackwell James returns from the and decisionmaking. The book is intended
prestigious New England boarding school. Amazon jungle with a trunk full of to encourage middle- and high-school-aged
Gaztambide-Fernández spent two years hallucinogenic vines, but no research children to get involved in finance early in
researching the day-to-day lives of several notes, his life suddenly becomes a wild life through an accessible and user-friendly
students to document “the cultural tale of adventure, suspense, and intrigue. format. S.L. Hudson, Ed.M.’78., lives in Iowa
practices through which they internalize In an attempt to help Blackwell finish his City, Iowa, with her husband John.
elite status and convince themselves Ph.D., his professor secures a job for him
they deserve what they get.” The book in Los Angeles, a place he has never Trophy Wives Don’t
ventures down a path not often covered been, to work on a primate experiment. Need Advanced Physics:
by educational research: abundance, elite Caught up in the secret ambitions of Dubious Words of
opportunity, and the most privileged of his employers, James enters a world of Wisdom from Physics
educational settings. Rubén Gaztambide- movies and movie stars, murder, money, Students
Fernández, Ed.M.’00, Ed.D.’06, is assistant a secret society, a ghost town, and several Boris Korsunsky
professor at the Ontario Institute for shamanistic drug-induced journeys. Pi Press, 2009
tanit sakakini
36 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 37
in the media
in various tests, lab reports, papers, and Women’s Rights, Racial Integration, of Raymond examines her abolitionist leadership. Monica Noraian, Ed.M.’91, teaching hospital in Boston and runs use of adaptive technology to increase
notes. The book serves as comic relief for and Education from 1850–1920: The roots growing up on a stop of the is director of the History–Social Sciences a small health counseling practice, La student achievement. Dockterman is a
any physics teacher or student, but can Case of Sarah Raymond, the First Underground Railroad; her training at Education Program at Illinois State Manzanita Homestead. regular contributing author for the blog’s
also be used in the classroom as a serious Female Superintendent a “normal school;” and her tenures as University, where she also serves as an site. Academics and experts are invited to
conversation-starter in discussions Monica Noraian teacher, principal, and the nation’s first assistant professor. Mind and Brain Interest Committee enhance the conversation by submitting
about the quality of student writing. Palgrave Macmillan, 2009 female city school superintendent. Being http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/ their own comments. David Dockterman,
The book can be previewed at www. Although she held an important position the first woman in the country to serve flesher/home Ed.D.’88, is adjunct lecturer on education
funstudentquotes.com. Boris Korsunsky, of educational leadership for 18 years, as superintendent of a city school system, Blogs and More Adi Flesher in the Technology, Innovation, and
Ed.D.’03, is a physics teacher at Weston Sarah Raymond’s story has been largely she signaled a fundamental shift in how The Mind and Brain Interest Committee Education Program at the Ed School
High School in Massachusetts. overlooked. This historical biography communities understood leaders and Building Understanding was created by Flesher, a graduate student and is vice president and chief academic
www.dennisharter.com/blog at the Ed School studying in the Mind, officer at Tom Snyder Productions, where
harvard education Press for more than 20 years he has developed
Dennis Harter Brain, and Education Program, with
Key Elements A Policy Reader in collection of seminal articles on Harter’s blog focuses on education, a group of high school students from award-winning educational software for
of Observing Universal Design standards and assessment; using data technology, leadership, and learning. Brookline High School’s School within a the classroom.
Practice: A for Learning to improve learning; recruiting and Harter, an educator in international School. The goal of the committee is to
Data Wise DVD Edited by David retaining great teachers and leaders; and schools for more than 16 years, writes explore the nature of minds and brains in
and Facilita- Gordon, Jenna Gravel, turning around failing school. Caroline about how schools are preparing a hope of imagining ways this topic can
tor’s Guide and Laura Shifter Chauncey is the editor of the Harvard students for success in their futures. be taught and explored in school settings.
Kathryn Parker Harvard Education Education Letter. With understanding at the heart of real Adi Flesher, Ed.M.’10, is a master’s
Boudett, Press, 2009 learning, he advocates that students student at the Ed School.
Elizabeth City, and Marcia Russell A Policy Reader What Next? must construct their own meaning
Harvard Education Press, 2010 comprises a collection of noteworthy Educational Innova- based on their learning experiences. Spaghetti for Breakfast
This DVD and facilitator’s guide, a articles that address the challenges and tion and Philadelphia’s Education must also foster tolerance and www.betsybowman.blogspot.com
follow-up to the book Data Wise: A opportunities policymakers are faced School of the Future appreciation for all cultures. Building Betsy Bowman
Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment with as they consider the federal, state, Edited by Mary Cullinane Understanding looks at the obstacles Since August of 2009, Bowman has
Results to Improve Teaching and and local policy implications of universal and Frederick Hess schools face and how technology, learning been a volunteer teacher for The Haitian
Learning, offer further support and design for learning principles in action. Harvard Education Press, leadership, and curricular shifts can Project, a Catholic Mission which
tools for developing teachers’ capacity The book provides an examination 2010 ensure that students are getting the supports and operates L’ouverture
to learn from their own practice. The of how these principles might inform In 2006 the school knowledge, tools, and skills they need Cleary School, a tuition-free, Catholic,
DVD includes a 20-minute film that crucial contemporary dialogue about district of Philadelphia teamed up to be the kind of people needed for the co-educational secondary boarding
follows members of one school team accountability and access to curriculum with the Microsoft Corporation to future. Dennis Harter, Ed.M.’97, is the school for economically underprivileged
as they apply the five key elements and an overall discussion about the redesign the American high school. high school technology and learning Haitian children. This is Bowman’s
of observing instruction and videos education field as a whole. It concludes The result was the School of the Future, coordinator at International School daily blog detailing her life in Haiti,
that offer closer investigation of each by reflecting on current assessments of where technology played a crucial Bangkok in Thailand. her interactions with students, and the
element. The facilitator’s guide provides student learning and teacher effectiveness role in redesigning and rethinking current struggles and accomplishments
meeting agendas, protocols, and and points to how they might be the models for teaching and learning. La Manzanita Health Counseling after the devastating earthquake that
discussion questions to help principals, improved through the implementation The school’s trademark framework www.manzanitahomestead.blogspot.com ravaged Haiti in January 2010. Betsy
Ed. magazine provides notice, on a space-
teachers, academic counselors, and of universal design for learning practices. for decisionmaking, the “6 Is” — Laura Zanini Bowman, Ed.M.’02, will be in Haiti for the available basis, of recently published books,
other professionals in education use Laura Shifter, Ed.M.’07, is a doctoral introspection, investigation, inclusion, Zanini’s blog, as well as her business, remainder of the 2009–2010 academic blogs, podcasts, and websites by HGSE
the video segments to structure their student at the Ed School and works at the innovation, implementation, and, La Manzanita Homestead, revolves calendar, continuing with her volunteer faculty, alumni, and students. Send your
name, degree, and year of graduation, along
conversations with colleagues about Center for Applied Special Technology. again, introspection — is now being around her passion for unprocessed food teaching position. (For a Q&A with
with the title of the book, the publisher, and
observing practice. Kathryn Parker used by organizations in more than 15 that comes from plants and humanely Bowman conducted just weeks after the date of publication, or a URL link to your
Boudett is the director of the Strategic Priorities for countries. The book offers a detailed raised animals, not the highly processed earthquake, visit www.gse.harvard.edu/ blog, podcast, or website.
Data Wise Project at the School Improvement study of the school’s first three years, contents of prepackaged food. Her goal news_events.)
Ed School. Elizabeth City, Edited by Caroline Chauncey revealing what the School of the Future is to support human health and to help Ed. magazine, In the Media
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Ed.M.’04, Ed.D.’07, is executive Harvard Education Press, 2010 can teach us about high school redesign, people better manage their lives through The Math Hub
Office of Communications
director of the Doctor of Organized around the four public-private partnerships, and the food and healthy lifestyle choices. She http://blog.tomsnyder.com/ 44R Brattle Street
Education Leadership Program key areas outlined in the U.S. use of technology in school reform. works with individuals, couples, and math-hub/?Tag=David+Dockterman Cambridge, MA 02138
at the Ed School. Marcia Russell, Department of Education’s Frederick Hess, Ed.M.’90, is director employers who support the health and David Dockterman E-mail: medianotes@gse.harvard.edu
Fax: 617-495-7629
Ed.M.’09, is a doctoral student Race to the Top program, of educational policy studies at the well-being of their teams. Laura Zanini, The Math Hub is a place for sharing
at the Ed School. this volume presents a American Enterprise Institute. Ed.M.’93, is a health educator at a expertise on math education and the
38 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 39
investing in education
only can manage organizational details, but also can create a John Fiske Elementary on Chicago’s south side. Courses that
The Principal Pipeline supportive, intellectual environment in which learning can address developing a professional learning community and
take place.” using data provide candidates with the basics for leadership
By Samantha Cleaver The Principal Development Program is set up specifically for change.
to address this new demand. The candidates sign on for a
By 2006, Nikki Huvelle Milberg, Ed.M.’09, had six-year commitment; one year studying at the Ed School, one Putting Theory into Practice
come to realize the importance of having effective year working with a current Chicago principal, and four years When principal candidates are placed in Chicago schools for
school principals. By then, she had already worked in a leadership role at a school in Chicago. They receive full their one-year practicum, the goal is to place them with leaders
as a Teach For America teacher in Newark, N.J.; tuition at the Ed School, and are paid as CPS employees once who will challenge them and who have succeeded in changing
helped found a charter school in Washington, they start working at their schools. In addition, candidates can their own schools.
D.C.; and was earning a master’s degree in busi- participate in the Ed School’s WIDE World distance learning “We want them to see what it means to move a school
ness at Yale. While at Yale, Milberg interned with classes and Programs in Professional Education institutes. forward,” says Vitale, “because most of the schools that we
Chicago Public Schools’ (CPS) Office for Principal “What makes the program unique, and [the reason it] has hope they become principals in are going to require leadership
Leadership and Development, working with been successful, is the marriage between the theoretical and for change.”
incoming principals. The experience “really the practical,” Pritzker says. “The Harvard classroom provides It also helps principal candidates get a feel for the job itself
started making me question what you can do [in a rigorous intellectual framework, then the Chicago school ex- so they aren’t overwhelmed.
40 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 41
alumni news and notes
1957 1963 Thailand, where he was a visit-
ing professor at Payap Univer-
His novel In Good Faith has sold
out and is out of print.
PROFILE
Geraldine Zetzel, Ed.M.,
teaches poetry and meditation
Phyllis Chin, M.A.T., has been
honored by the Association for
sity. Accounts and pictures of
his work at the university and Steven Johnson, Ed.M.’96,
and is currently leading a course
at Harvard Institute for Learn-
Women in Mathematics with
the 20th Annual Louise Hay
in city schools can be viewed 1966 is walking to his own beat.
at chiangmaitrek.blogspot.com.
ing in Retirement. Her book of Award in recognition of her He now volunteers as a court- David Halperin, M.A.T, hosted
poetry, Mapping the Sands, was contributions to mathematics appointed special advocate for an alumni dinner in Hong
Steven Johnson, Ed.M.’96, has lived his personal and professional
published this year. education at all levels. She is abused and neglected children, Kong on November 17, 2009, to
celebrate the Ed School’s 90th life by one code: respect. As a beat cop in Boston for 26 years, John-
Nancy Hohmann, M.A.T.’70, is out riding her horse. had experienced poverty and violence. “They were afraid and
distrustful of them.”
Now retired from the force, Johnson’s spirit for teaching has
not waned, and he regularly tutors neighborhood children
As a teacher, however, his students saw him as a person who in his Roxbury community on the intricacies of chess. “The
Nancy Hohmann, M.A.T.’70, remembers fondly the two summers to point out that
cared about their education and potential instead of as “some philosophy [of chess] is that when you play, nobody loses,” he
she spent working as a horseback-riding counselor at a now- it is the students
intimidating enforcer.” At the encouragement of colleagues, says. “You just learn from the mistake you made and to [try] not
closed Vermont camp for special needs children. who truly make
Johnson applied to the Ed School to pursue a master’s degree in to repeat it.”
“Those summers had a deep influence on me,” she says. So their own suc-
teaching. Once accepted, he took a year off from the police force He says the great result of learning chess is individual confi-
deep, in fact, that decades later, after a long career as a foreign
courtesy of laura lees
cess. “Mostly, I
and worked to create a program to train police officers how to dence and self-respect; the game holds no merit to a competi-
language teacher, Hohmann finds herself working in a remarkably just get out of
teach non-law enforcement–related classes in high schools. He tor’s size or status — all the potential to succeed relies on one’s
similar setting. She discovered Riding to the Top, a therapeutic the way and let
purposely focused on a curriculum distant from law enforcement own determination. This lesson — that possibility exists beyond
42 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 43
alumni news and notes
1982 chancellor for the University of
Wisconsin Colleges and the Uni-
Gerard Robinson, Ed.M., was
named secretary of education
Center in Los Angeles, where
she is currently the employment
Razia Raghavji, Ed.M., married
Karim Velji on August 30, 2008.
athletics, and will also continue
to serve as the cochair of the
Julie Lineberger, Ed.M., versity of Wisconsin-Extension. for the state of Virginia this policy director. Moran brings They welcomed their son, Aidan committee preparing for the
received the Excellence in Ar- past January. more than 12 years of immigrant Velji, on May 20, 2009. college’s upcoming reaccredita-
chitecture award for her firm’s rights advocacy experience to
design of Bank Park in Wilm- 1990 her new responsibilities. Danielle Reyes, Ed.M., serves
tion visit.
ington, Vt. Lineberger founded
LineSync Architecture in 1988. Paul Karofsky, Ed.M., recently
1996 as the program officer for Joseph Ricca, Ed.M., was
Nita Sturiale Taibi, Ed.M., the Eugene and Agnes Myer named superintendent of
formed Transition Consulting Maria Broderick, Ed.M.’87, received tenure at Massachu- Foundation. In her role, Reyes schools of the East Hanover
Group, Ltd, with his son David. Ed.D., was appointed to the clin-
1983 They look forward to growing
the next generation of TCG,
ical faculty at the New England
School of Acupuncture, where
setts College of Art and Design
and was promoted to chair the
assesses the nonprofit organi-
zations that apply to the founda-
Township Public Schools in
East Hanover, N.J. He was a
Peggy Williams, Ed.D., was Studio for Interrelated Media. tion for funding (considering Geraldine R. Dodge Fellow in
working together as a father she will be supervising interns
honored by Ithaca College with their programs, services, vision, 2009 and participated in the
and son team. They invite all to at the Boston Medical Center’s
the new Peggy Ryan Williams
Center, a 58,000-square-foot
check out their new website at
www.ForTCG.com.
in-patient pediatric clinic and
outpatient adolescent clinic.
1999 and sustainability). Reyes’
accomplishments were recently
Ed School’s Art of Leadership
Institute in July.
Kate Levine, Ed.M.’09, and
Alissa Valiante, Ed.M.’07
building designed to achieve the profiled by Rosetta Thurman, a
She directs Reservoir Family Kevin Bolan, Ed.M., was
highest principles of sustainable
design. More than 50 percent
1991 Wellness, LLC in Acton, Mass., promoted to partner at the in-
nonprofit sector blogger.
2006 The HGSE Recent Alumni Circle Committee of New York
hosted a networking event on January 12, 2010 at the
where she practices pediatric ternational law firm McDermott
of the building’s energy comes
from renewable sources. Wil-
Jane McDonnell Coder, Ed.M.,
was awarded a grant for residen-
Chinese medicine, specializing
in the integrative treatment of
Will & Emery LLP. He is a mem-
ber of the firm’s trial department
2002 Wenli Jen, coordinated the
recent San Gabriel Valley Youth
70 Park Avenue Hotel. The event included the panel,
“Working in Education in New York City,” featuring Shane
liams was the college’s seventh cy to the Vermont Studio Center, neuropsychological disorders. and focuses his practice in com- Alexander Dippold, Ed.M., and Summit at the Asian Pacific Mulhern, Ed.M.’02, executive director, New Leaders for
president and now serves as the largest international artists’ plex commercial litigation and his wife, Jean Marie, welcomed Family Center in Rosemead,
president emerita. and writers’ residency program New Schools, Greater New York Office, and HGSE doctoral
Cynthia Smith Forrest, arbitration, antitrust, intellectual their first child on October 17, Calif. More than 600 teens from
in the United States, hosting 50 Ed.M.’90, Ed.D., has been named property, professional liability, student Shimon Waronker, Ed.M.’09, chancellor’s intern,
2009. Genevieve Fenlon Dippold Southern Californina attended
visual artists and writers each
1984 month from across the country
and around the world.
the vice president of student
affairs and dean of students at
and white-collar defense. is the first girl in the Dippold
family in two generations. She
the event and chose from 40
workshops including creating
New York City Department of Education.
Joseph Ricca
Joe Ricca and students at
Paul and David Karofsky Jane McDonnell Coder the East Hanover Middle School Wendy Harbour
Wenli Jen
44 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 45
alumni news and notes
In Memory
PHOTO FINISH
Bertha Bachner, GSE’30 Robert Spencer, M.A.T.’58 William Demmert Jr., Ed.D.’73
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Now it’s Joseph Bernard Doherty, Ed.M.’42 William Newton Stephens, Ed.D.’59 Cynthia Ardell, Ed.M.’74
also worth an alumni note. We are now including alumni- Babette Samelson Whipple, GSE’45 Richard Clark, Ed.M.’61 Michael Kneale, Ed.D.’77
focused photos in the alumni section of Ed. magazine. Doris Allene Carey, Ed.M.’47 Georgia Louras Bartlett, Ed.M.’62 Gerald Mohatt, Ed.D.’78
(Either the alum is in the photo or the photo is connected Barclay Feather, GSE’47 Ruth May Wilson, GSE’62 Gregory Kannerstein, Ed.D.’79
to the graduate — a photo of a new baby, for example.) Owen Kiernan, Ed.D.’50 Thomas James Coffey, Ed.M.’63 Virginia Cornwall, Ed.M.’80
Send your high-resolution digital photos to classnotes@ Otto Russell Mauke, GSE’51 Donald Keay, M.A.T.’63 James McChesney, Ed.M.’80
gse.harvard.edu. Photos that are not in focus, dark, or at Margaret Stone, Ed.M.’51 Coleman Morrison, Ed.D.’63 Renee Weaver Johansen, Ed.M.’84
a low resolution may not be usable. Please identify the John Watson, GSE’52 Robert Zeeb, M.A.T.’63 Shirley Callan, Ed.M.’82, Ed.D.’88
people in the photo and include a few lines of context. Barbara Abrams, Ed.M.’54 Robert Lentz, Ed.M.’65 Susan Harkins, Ed.M.’91
Due to space constraints, we may not be able to print all Helen Feulner, Ed.D.’56 John Gordon Alford Jr., Ed.D.’66 Sandra Potrafke Hable, Ed.M.’92
photos but we will do our best! Wendell Lowell French, Ed.D.’56 Raymond Almeida, Ed.M.’70 Cynthia Hsin-feng Wu, Ed.D.’93
H. Kent Moore, Ed.M.’58 Mary McMorris, M.A.T.’70 Jesse Howes, Ed.M.’04
Francis Edward Pratt, M.A.T.’58 Herbert Davis Simons, Ed.M.’66, Ed.D.’70
Jo Ann Swartz Rounsley, Ed.M.’58 LeBaron Moseby Jr., M.A.T.’67, Ed.D.’72
46 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 47
recess High Standards by Tricia Hurley
Deedie Keppel has been involved with the Harvard Graduate “Frank and I had a partnership,” she says. “He had tremendous faith
School of Education for nearly two-thirds of her life. in the school and what it could be, and that kept us both going.”
Her relationship to the school began when her late husband In 1962 — when Longfellow Hall had been purchased and plan-
Francis Keppel, then only 32 years old, was tapped by Harvard ning was well under way for the expansion of what is the school’s
President James Bryant Conant to be the school’s fourth dean and current home on Appian Way — Francis stepped down as dean to
was given the task of organizing and increasing the profile of a serve as commissioner of education under presidents John F. Ken-
school that was younger than he was. nedy and Lyndon Johnson.
“When we arrived, the Ed School campus consisted of Lawrence Although the Keppels would live in D.C. and New York for many
Hall and Palfrey House. It was a far cry from the Appian Way cam- years, they returned to Cambridge in 1976 so that Francis could
pus it is today,” says Deedie Keppel, now 90 years old. spend the remainder of his career teaching at the school he
While Francis worked tirelessly to increase the school’s profile worked so hard to build. He passed away in 1990.
and standing, both at Harvard and nationally — studying the “The school was the love of his life and over the years it has
American public education system, recruiting vibrant faculty mem- become family to me,” says Deedie, who chose to honor her hus-
bers, and increasing the number of applicants — Deedie did all she band’s legacy with a gift annuity to the Ed School.
could to help him achieve his goals. As a member of the Paul Hanus Society, Deedie believes
In the early years of his deanship, she hosted faculty wholeheartedly in the school’s mission and its abil-
teas, often inviting faculty members from other ity to improve the lives of young people. For
Harvard schools to encourage interdisciplin- more than 60 years — through the tenures
ary dialogue. To facilitate relaxed discussions of six deans — she has been thrilled to
ed malitsky
issues in education. standards I have. It is the most human
The Gift of Song by Jazmin Brooks of all the graduate schools at Harvard.
It truly is a family.”
A simple suggestion that led to the impromptu creation of an The rest of the group was more than ready, though. “There’s
a cappella group has now blossomed into the opportunity for a lot of musical talent here,” he says. Once he composed the
Ken Offricht, Ed.M.’10, to be inducted into Harvard legacy. music, he asked fellow Harmonica Leigh Jansson, Ed.M.’10, to
In the fall of 2009, Associate Professor Monica Higgins construct the lyrics. “Leigh has such a strong sense of meter,
approached Offricht and other students in her Leadership, poetry, and lyrics that it just made sense to enlist her help to
Entrepreneurship, and Learning course. They shared a musical ensure we had the best song possible.”
background and she suggested they start an a cappella group Offricht says his vision for the final song was celebratory
as a fun and creative outlet, as well as an extension of the and passionate.
team-leading principles they were exploring in class. After “[There is] something inspirational about [Ed School
contemplating the idea, Offricht thought, “Why not?” With the students’] love for education and how we want to impact the
help of another classmate, he held auditions, selected singers, world — all the things that bring people here,” he says. “[The
and affectionately named the group the HGSE Harmonicas — song] is to celebrate that we are now ready to go make them
an homage to the professor who ignited the idea. a reality.”
When Offricht and the Harmonicas performed at the staff He also wanted to proudly show his respect for the school
and faculty holiday party last December, he couldn’t have and its people.
fathomed that Dean Kathleen McCartney would become so “For me this place has been awe-inspiring. It has exceeded
enamored with the group that she would suggest he write a my expectations, which has never happened in my life,” he
song they could perform at graduation. The dean also pro- says. “People are real, they’re committed, and they care. So For more information please contact:
posed that if the song were well received, it could become the to be able to share that caring and to be able to give it back
signature graduation song for the Ed School. to them and to be able to share with the students and future Ericka Webb, associate director
“It was immensely flattering for both me and the group,” says students … I get a little emotional.” University Planned Giving
Offricht, who has a background in the creative arts, including telephone: 617-496-4003
as a songwriter, screenwriter, and documentary filmmaker. Still, Visit www.youtube.com/HarvardEducation, the Ed School’s fax: 617-495-0521
despite his impressive resume, he says, “The idea of creating a YouTube channel, to watch videos about the Harmonicas and e-mail: Ericka_Webb@harvard.edu
Harvard tradition, for me, was like a whole other level.” Ken Offricht. or visit www.alumni.harvard.edu/give/planned-giving
48 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 Ed. • Harvard Graduate School of Education • summer 2010 49
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Where’s Ed.?
In November, the Higher Education cohort “got caught” reading Ed. in their Proseminar in Higher Education class,
thanks to Scott Flanary, Ed.M.’10 (second to last row standing, plaid shirt). “ We consider this our ‘homeroom’ for the
week,” Flanary says. “We even make homeroom-type announcements about happy hours, get-togethers, and personal
successes.” He says that when he announced to the group that Professor Judy McLaughlin was going to take the photo
for the magazine, “The whole cohort wanted fame and fortune, and so everyone opted in!”
Think you can top this photo? E-mail us a picture of yourself (or someone in your family) reading Ed. and you may find
fame (but no fortune) on the back cover, too.