Program Workshops

  Learning from Ontario: Reaching for Equity and Excellence in Education

CIES Pre-Conference Workshop Monday March 10, 1pm-3pm

[This workshop, hosted by the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, replaces the annual CIES school visits because March 10-15 is school break in Ontario.]

  Girls Re-imagining Gender: Using Creative, Critical and Collaborative Methods with Youth

The voices, perspectives of girls and young women in history, political and civic education are rare, and those of girls of color are even rarer still. It is seldom that girls direct the researcher’s gaze or control the camera’s lens. How can a collaborative, critical and creative approach to research help us understand what young people are learning about their roles in society? This interactive workshop will explore the use of participatory, visually-informed research methods in engaging participants in critical reflection and action on issues of gender equality.

  Taking "Different" out of Differentiated Instruction to Help ALL Students

Reading comprehension is difficult for many children, thus affecting all content areas throughout their school day. Utilizing technology can be a way to engage students in reading activities, while incorporating interactive assessment to increase comprehension. In addition to these exciting technological advances, teachers have found that utilizing instructional strategies from the field of special education can greatly increase reading mastery in elementary and secondary students (Hughes & Murawski, 2091; Roe, 2010). From differentiating instruction and scaffolding assessments questions, to creating individualized learning centers and partner activities; teachers can maximize learning time by increasing student engagement and time-on-task (Isherwood & Barger-Anderson, 2008; McDuffie, Mastropieri, Scruggs, 2009).

  The Counter-Narrative of the Multi-marginalized in Educational Institutions: Parents Advocating for Their Children in Schools

  Expanding, Structuring, and Invigorating the Early Grade Reading Research Agenda

Learning how to read is one of the most important skills that a child should master in primary school. However, there is healthy and ongoing debate, both in the OECD countries and countries that are recipients of donor assistance, about how best to enable children to achieve that mastery. In addition, the implementation of collaborative approaches to consolidating evidence on core reading interventions, the development of research on emerging promising practices, the standardization of metrics and protocols in reading instruction, and the dissemination of knowledge about effective ways to teach reading have often taken a back seat in international circles in recent years to the pressures and imperatives of implementing reading programs in the field.

  Using the TIMSS and PIRLS 2011 Fourth Grade Combined International Database for Secondary Analysis

International large-scale assessments (LSA) collect an enormous amount of data, which result in datasets containing a wealth of information for secondary analysts. In addition to achievement data from students, they also collect data from teachers, school principals and parents in the hope that this information will assist in our collective understanding of education systems and their improvement. Unfortunately, much of LSA data are under- or poorly utilized by policy makers as well as researchers, in part due to the fact that proper analysis requires the use of analysis methods that complex and generally unfamiliar to users of the data (e.g. plausible values, replicate and sampling weights). The intent of this course is to provide researchers with a set of tools to assist them in unraveling the complexities of one of the recent largest and most important LSA study: the joint Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2011 conducted with the 4th grade students in 37 countries around the world.

  Countering Islamophobia in the Classroom

The objectives for this workshop are:

  PISA and Beyond: Analysis of International Data from PISA Using Multiple Tools and Incorporating Additional Country-Level Data

There has been growing interest in examining the performance of students cross-nationally on international assessments and trying to better understand the characteristics and initiatives of the top performing education systems (National Governors Association, CCSSO, & Achieve, 2008; OECD, 2010; Fordham Institute, 2009). PISA, a study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), contributes to this work. Begun in 2000 and conducted every three years, it /includes an assessment portion as well as questionnaires administered to 15-year-old students and their principals to obtain contextual information at the student and school levels.

  Critical Studies in Education, Conflict & Peacebuilding: Building a Network of Activists/Scholars

Objective: To bring together a group of critical scholars, activists, and policymakers working to better understand the relationship between education, conflict and peacebuilding through critical research methodologies and approaches. The group will explore the possibility of developing an international multi-disciplinary research and advocacy network that would challenge existing paradigms surrounding education’s role in conflict affected and fragile societies, with the end goal of promoting transformative approaches which advocate for participatory, socially just, and equitable forms of educational provision in such spaces.