School of Education Resources
and Community Service
Community Service International Programs
Undergraduate Studies
Each one of its members agrees that the School of Education is a very special community. Within the School itself, numerous academic resources enrich intellectual inquiry and provoke philosophical debate. There is a strong tradition for faculty to carry theory into community action through the creation of programs and centers that not only advance research and academic dialogue, but provide models for change and innovation.
ACADEMIC RESOURCES
Graduate Student Association Organized over 30 years ago, the School of Education Graduate Student Association (GSA) seeks to promote programming for the graduate students in the School of Education and Boston University Community. The GSA plans and sponsors events to assist School of Education graduate students to acclimate to the University, promote awareness of current issues in Education, and develop a sense of community.
Events sponsored in the past include:
- Wine tasting and dinner on the Charles
- Grant writing and funding workshops
- Film talks
- Social and cultural events (Boston Red Sox games, Boston Symphony performances, Museum of Fine Arts guided tours, etc.)
- Student/faculty social gatherings
- Guest speakers
- Fund-raising activities
- Professional development workshops
- Panel discussions
- Intramural sports
Instructional Materials Center (IMC) is a multimedia technology resource center for the SED community. At the IMC, students, faculty, and staff have access to various technologies and expertise that facilitate research, communication, collaboration, and the production of digital and paper-based educational resources. The center supports a wide range of instructional and communications aids, including extensive computing and printing resources; multimedia classrooms; telecommunications; scanning, digital video, and graphics.
The Pickering Educational Resources Library houses early childhood through Grade 12 instructional support materials in print and electronic formats, and a literature collection for children and young adults. The collection also includes education reference books, curriculum and instruction-oriented books and periodicals, elementary and secondary school textbooks, standardized tests, curriculum guides, faculty publications, and recent SED dissertations. The library has full access to the Boston University website, the World Wide Web, and maintains its own web page. Services include information on literacy, tutorials, and instruction, including training in electronic resources, research counseling, reference services, and maintenance of a reserve reading collection. An electronic classroom houses twenty-five computers with access to electronic resources and Microsoft applications, LCD/document projectors, and VCR/DVD equipment. Students may use the University’s extensive library system, including Mugar Memorial Library and its branches, the Boston Library Consortium, and Interlibrary loan services. See page 87 for more information on the Mugar Memorial Library and the University’s other libraries and special collections.
The Center for the Advancement of Ethics & Character (CAEC) was founded by Dr. Kevin Ryan in 1989 as the first ethics center in the country to focus on the education of teachers. Built on the belief that character education is an essential and inescapable mission of schools, the CAEC has enabled thousands of educators from rural, urban, and suburban communities to help students develop excellence of mind and character. Believing, too, that a reservoir of moral wisdom exists in great literature, works of art, history, mathematics, and science, the CAEC helps teachers mine curricula for lessons that will inspire students to want to internalize virtues such as integrity, responsibility, courage, compassion, and self-discipline. An internationally recognized research institute, the CAEC has consulted with school leaders and educators from numerous countries, including Canada, Brazil, Australia, Ireland, Japan, and the Philippines, and has served as advisor and professional development provider to school communities and several state departments of education in the United States. For more information, visit our website at www.bu.edu/education/caec, call 617-353-3262, or e-mail us at caec@bu.edu.
The Kevin Ryan Library for Ethics & Education, which opened in the spring of 2001, houses a reserve collection of books in moral education and ethics, both classical and contemporary, a video library, and practical resources in character education. The library offers students, scholars, visitors, and area teachers a place to study, conduct research, participate in interdisciplinary roundtable discussions and lectures, and review the work of the Center for the Advancement of Ethics & Character (CAEC). The library also provides professional instructional space for CAEC-sponsored seminars and institutes. The Ryan Library is located on the 4th floor of 621 Commonwealth Avenue.
The Center for the Study of Communication & the Deaf is devoted to both applied and theoretical research to benefit the Deaf and their families. Faculty and students have focused on three major research themes: the acquisition of signed languages, the impact of language on the education of the Deaf child, and the developmental assessment of bilingual approaches to the education of Deaf children. A variety of community services focus on projects assisting the hearing parents of Deaf children and on workshops and presentations to area agencies. The center has begun to create assessment instruments to determine ASL development in Deaf children.
Additional research interests of the center are the languages (American Sign Language (ASL) and English), family structure, the educational systems, and the social service networks of Deaf children and adults. Currently, the center is conducting four projects. The first project examines the role of language in the thinking of Deaf children. The second project is investigating the relationship of American Sign Language in Deaf children’s process of learning to read English. The third project focuses on the learning of American Sign Language as a second language. This project is currently developing ASL evaluation materials for Hearing persons, as well as for Deaf children. The last project concentrates on the development of an ASL/English curriculum for Deaf children, specifically grades preschool to fourth grade. A primary goal of the center is to provide state-of-the-art information to professionals in the education of the Deaf, related professionals, and the families they serve. Director, Marlon Kuntze, 617-353-3205, voice and TTY, or e-mail
kuntze@bu.edu.
The Microcosmos Project in the Science Education Program, available to students and faculty in both the School of Education and the larger University communities, advocates an interactive approach to teaching. The program integrates microbial life studies and innovative science-education pedagogy with the science methods courses, and includes a small study area, a pond and plant display, and gallery exhibits on important science content developed by current students. For more information, please contact Dr. Douglas Zook at 617-353-2030, or e-mail dzook@bu.edu.
International Symbiosis Society Located at the Science Education Program, the International Symbiosis Society is made up of biology researchers and educators from around the world. The society fosters learning and sharing about the importance of symbiotic systems, including coral reefs, lichens, and forest communities. For more information, contact Dr. Douglas Zook, president, International Symbiosis Society, 617-353-2030, e-mail dzook@bu.edu, or access his web page, http://people.bu.edu/iss.
The Journal of Education Founded in 1875, the Journal of Education is the oldest continuously published educational journal in the United States. Since 1952 it has been published by the Boston University School of Education. Addressed to both scholars and practitioners, it includes essays and reviews on a wide range of topics. For further information or to arrange a subscription, please contact the Journal at 617-353-3230 or by e-mail at bujed@bu.edu.
COMMUNITY SERVICE
The Boston University School of Education has a long tradition of community service that grows out of the vision of its founders in 1918. Dr. Arthur H. Wilde, first dean of the School, wrote, “Our policy has been to keep in as vital touch with the everyday work of the schools as we could—to know the needs of the teachers and of the school officers and to give immediate satisfaction to those needs, yet with a view to the broader education of these teachers and officers.”
The Boston University/Boston Public Schools Collaborative is the administrative organization at the University that oversees more than a dozen programs created in support of the Boston Public Schools. In 1975, court-ordered school desegregation in Boston stimulated an unprecedented commitment by Boston-area colleges, universities, and businesses to help the city’s schools and children. Boston University has been and continues to be an active participant. University resources contribute to the support of a full-time director who initiates and seeks funding for new programs which involve faculty and students in serving the needs of Boston schoolchildren.
The Boston University/Chelsea Partnership In June 1989, Boston University accepted the invitation of the Chelsea School Committee to manage the Chelsea Public Schools under a unique ten-year partnership agreement. By unanimous vote of the Chelsea School Committee in 1997, that agreement was extended an additional five years. In June 2002, the School Committee once again voted to invite Boston University to extend the partnership, this time through June 2008, at which time the partnership ended by mutual agreement. The Boston University Chelsea Partnership was the only instance in which a private university had accepted responsibility for the overall day-to-day management of a public school system. The University received no monetary compensation for its work; rather, it provided managerial and educational expertise and oversight in order to rebuild an entire urban school system and to construct a model for the reform of urban education. The challenges that faced the partnership in Chelsea were typical of those faced in economically disadvantaged urban areas throughout the United States.
The Boston University Initiative for Literacy Development (BUILD) is a collaborative effort enjoying the support and contributions of the School of Education, and the Boston University Financial Assistance and Student Employment offices. With federal Work-Study funds made available by Boston University in support of the federal America Reads and local Read Boston programs, 150 literacy tutors provide assistance in one hospital, eight after-school, and five in-school programs serving elementary schoolchildren in Boston and Chelsea. For eligibility information, contact the Work-Study Manager at 617-353-2387. For information about the program, please write to Ruth Shane; e-mail: rshane@bu.edu or visit the BUILD website.
Boston University School of Education Consortium In 1977, the Boston University School of Education and a selection of Boston-area school districts, social service agencies, and overseas universities came together to form a consortium for the mutual exchange of expertise and training. Since that time, Consortium school systems and social service agencies have provided SED students with a variety of settings in which to pursue student-teaching, school-based counseling experiences, and administrative internships. For more information, contact Jo-Anne Richard, 617-353-3239, e-mail: jrichard@bu.edu Website: www.bu.edu/sed/consortium.
College Opportunity and Career Help (COACH) empowers Boston Public School students to make informed decisions about their futures by matching current college students with 11th and 12th graders to provide information, to motivate, and to support these students as they make post-secondary plans. Working directly in the high school classrooms, coaches gain a unique perspective on issues of college access, public education, and educational opportunity. By linking practice with ongoing research and dialogue, COACH continually looks for ways to challenge, explore, and bridge the growing opportunity gap for traditionally underrepresented students.
Step UP Boston University is one of five universities involved in Step UP, an unprecedented collaboration with the Boston Public Schools and the City of Boston to help ten local schools. Step UP was formed in the fall of 2006 and provides comprehensive, coordinated services aimed at improving student performance. Boston University’s two partner schools are the William Monroe Trotter Elementary School in Dorchester and the English High School in Jamaica Plain. Based on the needs identified by each partner school, BU aims to help the Trotter and the English make improvements in areas such as instruction and tutoring, after-school support, student wellness and safety, and family and community engagement.
INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS
Boston University and its School of Education have a history of offering a variety of programs abroad and to students from around the world. Faculty from the School of Education have led programs in more than a dozen countries on six continents.
A degree from Boston University is well-recognized and highly respected throughout the world, and the University continues to broaden its international activities. The School of Education attracts many international students to several of its programs. Of particular interest is our Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Program, which is one of the most sophisticated of its kind in the country. The Physical Education, Health & Coaching Program has brought students from many parts of Asia, Latin America, Europe, and Africa to study at the School. The EdM in International Educational Development (IEDP) trains mid-career professionals—including those returning from the Peace Corps—in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of development projects. All of these programs are described in detail in this bulletin.
Since 1985, the School of Education has implemented a student-teaching program as part of a larger International Initiative. This program has promoted opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to study abroad in Australia, Ecuador, and England.
UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES
Students interested in an undergraduate program at the School of Education should write or call Admissions, Boston University, 121 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215; 617-353-2300; e-mail: admissions@bu.edu; website: www.bu.edu/admissions.
Published by Trustees of Boston University
One Silber Way
Boston, MA 02215
6 October 2009
Boston University
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