Pictured above are some members at our first business meeting in April 2006.

Some of our SIG members:

Kay Alderman (kalderman@uakron.edu)
Professor of Educational Foundations and Leadership, The University of Akron

Barbara Bleyaert (bbleyae@UTNet.UToledo.Edu) is a new Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at The University of Toledo where she teaches graduate courses in instructional and building-level leadership, and school reforms related to creating equitable, collaborative learning communities. Barbara brings to her university teaching and to her research and writing the perspectives of a professional educator who spent 30+ years in public education, as a high school teacher-leader, innovative administrator, and school reform activist involved with the Coalition of Essential Schools and the Annenberg Institute for School Reform. Her research interest is related to issues of curricular equity and the potential impact of curricular tracking on students' post-secondary transitions and adult outcomes. In her recently completed dissertation, she compared results of a senior exit survey and a census of the same cohort of high school graduates one and five years after their graduation to determine the relationship between curricular program followed during high school and post-secondary outcomes, especially related to pursuit of post-secondary education and financial independence. As a faculty member new to the academy, Barbara has been invited to participate in the New Faculty Mentoring Program sponsored by Division C at this year's annual meeting.

Tony Gallagher (am.gallagher@qub.ac.uk)
Professor and Head of the School of Education, Queen's University Belfast "Interested in the consequences of institutional tracking of young people into separate schools and in comparative evidence across difference jurisdictions."

Lani Horn (lanihorn@u.washington.edu)
Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education, University of Washington
"My work arises out of a concern about the underperformance of American secondary students in school mathematics. My research centers on ways to make rigorous mathematics accessible to students, particularly those who have historically been disenfranchised in our educational system. One line of my research seeks to specify the practices of ambitious and equitable teaching. What exactly do teachers need to do to teach their students effectively? Of course, identifying these practices is not enough. Teachers need support in incorporating these into their classrooms. Thus, a second line of work inquires into preservice and inservice teacher learning, with an eye toward making teacher education at both levels more effective for teachers and their students."

Anysia Mayer (anysia.mayer@gmail.com)
(Starting next fall) Assistant Professor in Educational Leadership,
University of Connecticut
"I am interested in tracking from an organizational studies perspective. I am also interested in understanding the myriad of consequences when schools open classes like AP and International Baccalaureate to all students."

Hugh (Bud) Mehan (bmehan@ucsd.edu)
Professor of Sociology, UCSD
"I participate in the construction of equitable educational environments and document the complexities of that progressive process."

Jeannie Oakes (oakes@ucla.edu)
Presidential Professor; Co-Director UCLA's Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access; Director, University of California's All Campus Consortium on Research for Diversity, UCLA
"Jeannie Oakes' research explains how the common practice of placing students into different course tracks and ability groupings limits the school experiences of low-income students and students of color, most of whom are identified as "low" ability or as "slow" learners. This work is documented in her 1985 book, Keeping Track (an updated edition was published in 2005 by Yale University Press), her RAND studies, Multiplying Inequalities (1990) and Educational Matchmaking (1992), and in many journal articles and book chapters. As an expert in school desegregation cases at Rockford, Illinois, San Jose, California, and Wilmington, Delaware, she has also documented how tracking creates within-school segregation and inequalities in students' opportunities. Oakes' recent research follows the progress of educators, advocates, and grassroots community organizations who are attempting to eliminate schooling inequalities and build more democratic school communities. This work is reported in Becoming Good American Schools: The Struggle for Civic Virtue in Education Reform (Jossey-Bass, 2000) and Learning Power: Social Inquiry, Grassroots Organizing, and Educational Justice (with John Rogers and Martin Lipton) (Teachers College Press, 2006). Oakes is currently studying "multiple pathways"--a high school reform strategy that prepares all students for both college and career--as an alternative to high school tracking."

Rosa Roman Perez (rir107@psu.edu) is a doctoral candidate at the Pennsylvania State University. Rosa has worked as an instructor of English as a second language at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus. In her interest to serve this group of students she was awarded a grant for a summer program in which she integrated interdisciplinary as well as cultural experiences into their English language curriculum. Her research interest stems from working with first year college students in remedial English. Her research dissertation is a critical analysis of the discourse used in the syllabi of basic writing to determine how the written discourse used might either promote the deficit theory or promote student development. Her findings will be used for professional development of graduate assistants and new instructors to create consciousness of how ideologies and pedagogies affect students' performance. One of Rosa's main concerns is how tracking is not exclusive of K-12. Contrary to a misconception many hold, tracking is still evident at the college level, particularly in the remedial courses.

S. Marshall Perry (smperry@gmail.com) is a researcher at Rockman et al. His dissertation used mixed methods to examine adolescent academic self-concept in the context of middle-school ability grouping. He designed his minor in Political Psychology, which is an area that explores behavioral assumptions of political mechanisms, and peoples’ motivations and experiences within policies. Recently, Marshall has evaluated supplemental education services in the context of state content and performance standards. He provides technical assistance on research projects and proposals involving power analyses, multi-level modeling, and analysis of variance. Other interests include accountability, school reorganization, diversity, and academic standards. Marshall has also taught adult education and worked at the Board of Education in New York City. He has served on the Board of Directors of The Village Project, an international organization that teaches civic education, and Peace by Peace, a national network of programs that teach conflict resolution.

Megan Staples (megan.staples@uconn.edu) is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at the University of Connecticut and a former high school mathematics teacher. She currently teaches a clinic-based seminar course "Learners in Context" and secondary mathematics methods courses for the university's certification programs. In her teaching, she is pursing greater integration of technology and attention to issues related to English language learners. Her research focuses on classroom level discourse and the development of collaborative mathematics learning communities in classrooms comprising heterogeneous or lower-attaining groups of students. Recent publications include the chapter Integrals and Equity in Rethinking Mathematics (Eric Gutstein and Bob Peterson, editors), and Creating mathematical futures through an equitable teaching approach: The case of Railside School with Jo Boaler, to appear in a special edition of Teachers College Record on tracking and detracking (Maika Watanabe, editor).

Christopher H. Tienken (goteach1@hotmail.com)
GoTeach Consultants, LLC

Thomas W. Tramaglini (T2education@gmail.com)
Director of Technology, Assessment, Mathematics, Science and G&T, Freehold Borough School District
"Effective Schools Movement; Curriculum Development; Assessment"

Maika Watanabe (watanabe@sfsu.edu), is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Secondary Education at San Francisco State University, where she teaches courses in social and cultural foundations and instructional reform to pre-service teachers. Previously a middle and high school teacher, Maika draws on her teaching experience to help inform her post-secondary teaching and research. Forthcoming publications include: "Displaced teacher and state priorities in a high-stakes accountability context" in Educational Policy, "Lessons from a teacher inquiry group about tracking: Perceived student choice in course-taking and its implications for detracking reform" in Teachers College Record, and "Tracking in the era of high-stakes state accountability reform: Case studies of classroom instruction in North Carolina" in Teachers College Record. She is currently initiating a project where she will film, edit and produce a one-hour video that documents successful teaching strategies in detracked math and science classrooms, including how teachers address challenges to implementation.

Kevin Welner (welner@colorado.edu)
Associate Professor, University of Colorado at Boulder School of Education.
"I have researched the effects of tracking as well as the process and effects of detracking. The detracking research has considered the importance of creating a context that is hospitable to equity-minded reform. I have also examined legal issues concerning tracking."

Jean Yonemura Wing (jywing@gmail.com)
Coordinator, Research & Best Practices, Oakland Unified School District
"I am also an affiliate of UC ACCORD -- University of California All Campus Consortium on Research for Diversity"