麻豆原创

Teachers College鈥檚 new President, Thomas Bailey, cares a lot about doing good research and ensuring that it makes an impact in the real world. Following the 2008 Phyllis L. Kossoff Lecture in Education & Policy delivered by New York City Public Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza, an Academic Symposium during the week of Bailey鈥檚 inauguration featured two academic panels:

1. 鈥淢aking Research That Matters: Building Consensus for Great Ideas鈥�

and

2. 鈥淧ractice Makes (Almost) Perfect: Working with Practitioners in the Field

1. Marking Research That Matters: Building Consensus for Great Ideas

A while back, preparing for a major research conference, Haeny Yoon suggested creating a Special Interest Group (SIG) devoted to play. 鈥淲hy?鈥� the conference organizers responded. After all, there were already two SIGs devoted to early childhood education 鈥� so what was the point of a third?

鈥淎nd that was really an impetus for asking bigger questions,鈥� said Yoon, Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education, during 鈥淢aking Research that Matters: Building Consensus for Great Ideas,鈥� the second of three panel discussions that constituted the academic symposium held during Inauguration Week. 鈥淚s play only about early childhood, or is play something artistic and visual? Is play something adults do? Do teachers play? Do curriculum designers play? Do policymakers play?鈥�

鈥淣o!鈥� interjected Doug Ready, Associate Professor of Education & Public Policy.

Yoon laughed along with the rest of the audience, but continued, 鈥淪ometimes you get ideas from across different disciplines. It鈥檚 the idea that this is the research I want to do, and these are the people and disciplines that might fit into it and that might even afford me a new way of looking at something.鈥�

Moderated by Laudan Jahromi, Associate Professor of Psychology & Education, the panelists 鈥� Yoon; Ready; Kimberly Noble, Associate Professor of Neuroscience & Education; and Robert Siegler,, Jacob H. Schiff Foundations Professor of Psychology & Education 鈥� grappled with questions such as: Is there a secret sauce for coming up with and conducting great research? How important is it to take a multidisciplinary approach? and What are the benefits of being a researcher at Teachers College?

鈥淚 think if your work is inherently and in a meaningful way informing a diverse group of fields, and if you get the point across, that鈥檚 the best outcome as a faculty member. And 麻豆原创 definitely recognizes the importance of that kind of work.鈥�

鈥� Laudan Jahromi

鈥淔or me, what鈥檚 really been powerful is to bring a more basic side of neuroscience into a public policy domain,鈥� said Noble, who made international headlines three years ago with a study that found a negative association between poverty and brain development in young children. She鈥檚 now leading a national study to determine the impact on children ages zero to three whose mothers are given cash supplements. 鈥淎s a neuroscientist, I can talk about correlations, but not about causality without talking with people from other fields.鈥�

Siegler, an internationally known expert on children鈥檚 mathematical development, said he鈥檚 most interested in 鈥渨hat鈥檚 important, what we don鈥檛 know much about,鈥� as well as areas where 鈥渨e do have methods and could make progress, but just haven鈥檛.鈥� Too much research in academia 鈥渇ollows the herd,鈥� he said, with the result that (as the late 麻豆原创 and Columbia president Nicholas Murray Butler once put it) we know 鈥渕ore and more about less and less.鈥�

Yoon said that, as a former school teacher, she became interested in conducting research about young children because 鈥渁 lot of kids are labeled as underperforming, but when we look at their practices outside what is deemed normal, they鈥檙e doing a lot of really sophisticated things 鈥� and we can capture that through studies of play.鈥�

And Ready, said simply, 鈥淚 always just want to write about what I want to write about, and if something is hot but boring to me, I won鈥檛 focus on it. And what that鈥檚 meant over the past few decades is that, methodologically, I鈥檓 all over the map. Some questions are clear causal questions 鈥� does X cause Y. So we鈥檙e evaluating several middle school math curricula, and we鈥檙e doing randomized control trials, because the question is, do kids who experience this math curriculum learn more math? It鈥檚 clearly an X causes Y. But [for] other really important questions, we can鈥檛 randomize the treatment. So the study we did of school suspension in New York City focused on black males 鈥� we obviously couldn鈥檛 and don鈥檛 want to randomize suspensions. And so, answering that question demands a whole other methodology.鈥�

Being at 麻豆原创, all agreed, offers distinct advantages in shaping research and building a career that can follow less rigidly defined paths.

鈥淚鈥檝e had my work cited in development psychology-types of journals in child development, in autism journals, in culturally diverse types of journal outlets,鈥� said Jahromi, who directs 麻豆原创鈥檚 Intellectual Disabilities/Autism programs and has conducted extensive studies on emotional self-regulation in children with those issues 鈥� particularly immigrant children. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a challenge to that when your work is being evaluated by the outside field, because the question becomes, 鈥榃ho are those people in your field?鈥� Because you don鈥檛 just identify with one field, and you have to speak across the board. But I think if your work is inherently, and in a meaningful way, informing a diverse group of fields, and if you get the point across, that鈥檚 the best outcome as a faculty member. And 麻豆原创 definitely recognizes the importance of that kind of work.鈥� 

Siegler said that 麻豆原创, by virtue of being in New York City, has given him access to 鈥渁n incredibly diverse and interesting population of children,鈥� which has enabled him to explore different factors that might be responsible for poor achievement in mathematics. And because nearly all disciplines at 麻豆原创 are in some way focused on education, he said, departments and fields are less siloed than at traditional universities.

Interestingly, however, there was less consensus about the importance of 鈥渕ultidisciplinarity,鈥� as Ready called it.

鈥溌槎乖�创 once a year, a student in economics comes into my office and says something like, 鈥業 want to do a regression discontinuity design 鈥� do you have a good question?鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淎nd I reply, 鈥業 think you have that a little backwards, what鈥檚 the question first?鈥欌�� Similarly, 鈥減eople often say, 鈥業 want to build a multidisciplinary team,鈥� and sometimes that makes a lot of sense, and sometimes that makes less sense. You have to think about, 鈥榃hat鈥檚 the question?鈥� and to what extent does addressing the question require a multidisciplinary team?鈥�

Siegler agreed. 鈥淚t鈥檚 more about the skill sets you need rather than the disciplines,鈥� he said. 鈥淯ltimately, it鈥檚 the research question you鈥檙e asking that鈥檚 fundamental. Everything else follows from it.鈥�

Still all agreed that 麻豆原创 offers unique opportunities to partner with the best people, whomever they might be. Ready and Noble recalled meeting one another for the first time several years ago at a faculty picnic.

鈥淚t鈥檚 more about the skill sets you need rather than the disciplines,鈥� he said. 鈥淯ltimately, it鈥檚 the research question you鈥檙e asking that鈥檚 fundamental. Everything else follows from it.鈥�

鈥� Robert Siegler

鈥淚t wouldn鈥檛 have been common that I鈥檇 have had a ton to talk about with an economist 鈥� but we did because our work really does have commonalities,鈥� said Noble.

鈥淲e started out talking about how do you measure the link between socioeconomic status and child outcomes, and the challenge of measuring that in a causal way, and she said, 鈥榃ell, we鈥檙e trying to figure out a way to randomize this cash intervention among babies,鈥欌�� Ready recalled. 鈥淎nd my mouth just dropped open 鈥� 鈥楾his is so cool!鈥� And we went on from there, and there I am eating a hotdog with a neuroscientist in Morningside Park. And I don鈥檛 know many other institutions where that would happen.鈥�

2. Practice Makes (Almost) Perfect: Working with Practitioners in the Field

As a new geometry teacher at a large urban high school, Erica Walker arrived one morning to find 15 students she鈥檇 never met before waiting outside her classroom. The principal had sent them after they鈥檇 complained they weren鈥檛 learning enough from another teacher. Walker already had her hands full, so she improvised, recruiting the best students from both classes to help lead tutoring sessions. Word spread, Walker obtained a breakfast budget, and soon 鈥渆very day before school my classroom was full of kids doing geometry. It was a beautiful sight.鈥�

In fact, the peer-tutoring model created on the fly by Walker 鈥� now Professor of Mathematics & Education and Chair of Teachers College鈥檚 Department of Mathematics, Science & Technology鈥� was so successful that she made it the focus of her dissertation and, subsequently, a book (, published in 2012 by Teachers College Press). Much of her current research in local schools still employs that model.

鈥淪o this is an example of how a practitioner鈥檚 work can inspire a researcher鈥檚 work,鈥� Walker said after telling that story to open 鈥淧ractice Makes (Almost) Perfect: Working with Practitioners in the Field,鈥� the panel she moderated as part of the Inauguration Week Academic Symposium. 鈥淚t just so happens that, in this case, the practitioner was me, and the researcher was me, too. We sometimes think of the relationship between researchers and practitioners as one-way, and I鈥檇 like to push back on that.鈥�

Walker鈥檚 fellow panelists went even further.

鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 have a research agenda if there weren鈥檛 practitioners informing the work I鈥檓 thinking about,鈥� said Christopher Emdin, Associate Professor of Science Education, who has introduced the idea of hip-hop pedagogy to teachers around the world. 鈥淎t the anchor of any research are the problems or successes that a practitioner finds. So I think the idea of the researcher existing outside of the work is the problem. We can鈥檛 be effective researchers if we鈥檙e not willing to go out there and engage in the practice with you.鈥�

鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 have a research agenda if there weren鈥檛 practitioners informing the work I鈥檓 thinking about. At the anchor of any research are the problems or successes that a practitioner finds.鈥�

鈥� Christopher Emdin

Emdin, who has published several books and scores of research articles, added that the chief means of distribution for his research is a chat group he started seven years ago. 鈥淚t was very lonely, basically me tweeting into nowhere, but it鈥檚 since become a place where educators across the country 鈥� so, teachers, parents, high school students and professors 鈥� are together every Tuesday night at nine p.m. Eastern talking about the intersections of hip hop and education, hearing research from right away 鈥� how it affects practice.鈥�

Charles Basch, Richard March Hoe Professor of Health & Education, spent years assembling data showing that poor and minority students are disproportionately affected by a group of health conditions that includes asthma, teen pregnancy, violence, attention deficit disorder and insufficient breakfast, and that, taken together, these disparities are a major contributor to the nation鈥檚 academic achievement gap. But that effort was only the first step in a campaign he has since waged to focus national attention on the problem and, in particular, prompt schools to incorporate student health as a fundamental part of their mission.

鈥淥ur greatest challenge as an institution is to put in place what we already know,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd the only way to do that is to put it in practice with practitioners. You have to involve them from the outset to conceptualize and design the approaches.鈥�

鈥淥ur greatest challenge as an institution is to put in place what we already know. And the only way to do that is to put it in practice with practitioners. You have to involve them from the outset to conceptualize and design the approaches.鈥�

鈥� Charles Basch

Marie Miville, Professor of Psychology & Education and Chair of the Department of Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, said that practitioners 鈥渙ftentimes are the voices of the people in a way that researchers in our academic world are not.鈥�

Some years ago, as a faculty member at Oklahoma State University, Miville worked on a program to educate indigenous children. At 麻豆原创, she co-founded the College鈥檚 bilingual concentration in Latina/o Mental Health, which has worked extensively with communities in Washington Heights and other areas of the city.

鈥淧ractitioners can introduce us to community members who are extremely powerful and just raw and honest about what works and doesn鈥檛 work,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e trained that this is how research is going to look, but when you work with exploited tribes who鈥檝e been hurt by research, there鈥檚 no protocol. You鈥檝e got to get to know the leaders, go to the sweat lodges. Because with communities that have been exploited or have never really had their faces represented around the table of a research project, you have to be there, you have to be present, and you and your team or students have to be a group of people that鈥檚 trusted and respected first, before you say, 鈥楬ow can we help?鈥� Because for years, 鈥楬ow can we help?鈥� has meant 鈥楬ow can we impose our thoughts on yours?鈥欌��

鈥淲ith communities that have been exploited or have never really had their faces represented around the table of a research project, you have to be there, you have to be present, and you and your team or students have to be a group of people that鈥檚 trusted and respected first, before you say, 鈥楬ow can we help?鈥� Because for years, 鈥楬ow can we help?鈥� has meant 鈥楬ow can we impose our thoughts on yours?鈥欌��

鈥� Marie Miville

, who joined 麻豆原创鈥檚 faculty this year as Research Professor and Director of the , concurred. 鈥淲e come in as researchers not to impose but to listen 鈥� and that is probably the most important factor in making research work.鈥�

In his previous role, as Commissioner of the at the Institute of Education Sciences, Brock introduced , a grant program specifically aimed at promoting greater collaboration between research teams and practitioners in the field.

鈥淭he premise, which you had to document, was that the question had to come from the practitioner,鈥� Brock said. 鈥淎lso, the practitioners and researchers had to work together in all phases of the results, including data collection, analysis and dissemination. We learned that practitioners are the greatest disseminators in the world. They are more convincing and persuasive when they get on a stage to talk about the work and how it made a difference in their schools than even the best lecturer or professor that I鈥檝e encountered.鈥�

Yet these collaborations didn鈥檛 cohere overnight, Brock said, in part because the teams needed to sort out who the right players were and what their roles should be, and in part because it simply took time to build trust.

鈥淥ften, at the beginning, they were just trying to understand a problem,鈥� he said. 鈥淩arely were they ready to jump into a randomized controlled trial right at the outset.鈥�

Emdin, too, lobbied for thoughtful deliberation, responsibility and patience in the implementation of research studies and projects. Case in point, he said, was his program, a curriculum that embeds a deep understanding of STEM subjects through hip-hop music. Though the program has been widely acclaimed by the media and peers for its success in New York City, Emdin views it as a work-in-progress that has required a lot of adaptation to local cultures as he has exported it to Jamaica, Canada, and even other American cities.

鈥淚鈥檓 not going to do fast food research when we need soul food,鈥� Emdin told the symposium. 鈥淔ast food means I run in there and churn something out. This requires Thanksgiving dinner work. That allows you to get an investment.鈥�

Ultimately, he said, many students automatically react to school as boring. The trick for any teacher 鈥� and the premise of using hip hop 鈥� is to observe what young people do when they鈥檙e not in school mode, see what gives them joy and import that activity into the classroom.

Miville agreed. 鈥淟earning is as emotional as it is cognitive, and to be able to access the heart as well as the mind 鈥� I have found that鈥檚 where the learning and insights happen. I call it dancing on the precipice of risk. When you鈥檙e truly open to what someone is trying to tell you, you鈥檙e quiet, you鈥檙e listening 鈥� and that鈥檚 the energy teachers, practitioners and researchers all must bring to the table. Our ability to access the other person鈥檚 joy, that鈥檚 what builds motivation.鈥�

— Steve Giegerich