EERA

Enlightening Education Through Research

Eastern Researcher Newsletter of the Eastern Educational Research Association

SPRING 2004

Renewal

In This Issue President’s Message

Conference Highlights

Outstanding Paper Award

Thanks to our JRE Editor

Meet the New JRE Editor

From the Student Services Director

Election Results for Regional Representatives

Dates for 2005 Conference

We Missed You!

Spring was welcomed for many of us, as winter has been cold and wintry this year. This newsletter documents highlights of our 27th annual 2004 Conference held February 11-14 in Clearwater, Florida. This location has been one of the favorite stops for EERA members for many years. Participants at this year’s conference enjoyed temperatures in the seventies along with views of greenery and beaches. Clearwater provided a welcome break from winter and work and continued to afford its members with pleasant surroundings to share our work and renew friendships. Many of you participated in our Strategic Planning meeting and Membership meeting and provided helpful feedback to improve this organization. EERA has always been known as an organization committed to disseminating quality educational research and building professional and cordial relationships.

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EERA Board of Directors President: Michael S. Green, ED 239, University at Albany 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12222 (518)442.4992, (f) (518) 442.4953, mgreen@uamail.albany.edu Immediate Past President: Bernard Brogan, Widener University, Center for Education, One University Place, Chester, PA 19013, (610)499.4622. President Elect: Marshall Strax, Education Department, College of Saint Elizabeth, 2 Convent Road, Morristown, NJ 07960, (973)290.4367, swampstrax@hotmail.com Vice President for Conference Planning: Virginia Shipman, Individual, Family & Community Education, College of Education. Simpson Hall, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, (505)277.4063 vshipman@unm.edu Conference Program Chairperson: Abbot L. Packard, 143 Education Annex, State University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA 30118, (770)838.4646, apackard@westga.edu Secretary: Carol Strax, Dominican College, 470 Western Highway, Orangeburg, NY 10962, (845)359-3577, carolstrax@hotmail.com Treasurer: Scott Ballantyne, BH 34, Alvernia College, 400 St. Bernardine St., Reading, PA 19607, (610)796.8288, scott.ballantyne@alvernia.edu Historian: Ralph Darr, The University of Akron—Emeritus, 715 Doramor Street, Kent Ohio 44240, adarr@kent.edu Director of Awards: Lucille Point Sutton, 5924 Chesnee Dr., Columbia, SC 29203, (843)383.8399, lasutton@mindspring.com Director of Communications: Neal Shambaugh, 504J Allen Hall, PO Box 6122, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, (304) 293.3803 x1423, neal.shambaugh@mail.wvu.edu Director of Development: Rayne A. Sperling, ESPSE, 201 CEDAR Building, Penn State, University Park, PA 16801, (814)863-2261, rsd7@psu.edu Director of Divisions-Special Interest Groups: to be announced. Director of Ethics: Launcelot I. Brown, Educational Foundations & Leadership, Duquesne University, 600 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15282,(412)396.1046, brownli@duq.edu Director of Membership: David Shannon, 4036 Haley Center--EFLT, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, (334)844-3071, shanndm@auburn.eduDirector of Publicity: Roger Briscoe, 246 Stouffer Hall, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, PA 15705, (724)357-3789, briscoe@grove.iup.eduDirector of Regional Representatives: Dennis R. King, University of Maine, College of Education and Human Development, 5766 Shibles Hall, Orono, ME 04469, (207)581-2439, dennis.king@umit.maine.edu Director of Student Services: Carlee Pollard, 614 East Howard St., Bellefonte, PA 16823, (814)357.6945, cka104@psu.edu Director of Special Programs: James Fleming, Dean’s Office, School of Education, University at Albany 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12222, jtfleming2@aol.com JRE Editor: Darla Twale, University of Dayton, 300 College Park, Dayton, OH 45469-0530 Darla.Twale@notes.udayton.edu Newsletter Editor: Blythe Hinitz, Forcina Hall 389, PO Box 7718, The College of New Jersey, 2000 Pennington Rd., Ewing, NJ 08628-0718, (609)771.3093, hinitz@tcnj.edu

The Eastern Educational Research Association is a regional organization for educational professionals interested in disseminating educational research for the overall purpose of improving education for all. EERA was created in 1977 and for twenty-seven years has been one of this country’s successful regional educational research organizations. EERA is affiliated with the American Educational Research Association as a member of the AERA Special Interest Group for regional research associations. EERA members meet at an annual conference in February or early March. Members’ research is disseminated through 13 divisions and 19 Special Interest Groups (SIGs). Membership contact is facilitated through Regional Representatives. The organization is administered through a Board of Directors elected by the membership. The organization awards an Outstanding Paper Award during the annual Conference along with $500 travel support to present at the AERA Annual Meeting. EERA also sponsors the publication of the Journal of Research in Education. EERA has a web site. See below for the URL. Eastern Researcher The Eastern Researcher newsletter is published three times yearly with a Spring issue (post-conference), Summer issue (announcing Call for Proposals), and a Winter issue (pre-conference). The newsletter announces the upcoming Conference, program highlights, deadlines, officer elections, and reports on the annual Conference meeting. Items appropriate for the newsletter include notices of professional development opportunities and columns relating to publications, awards, and graduate students. Send material to the Newsletter Editor:

Blythe Hinitz Forcina Hall 389 PO Box 7718 The College of New Jersey 2000 Pennington Rd. Ewing, NJ 08628-0718 609-771-3093 hinitz@tcnj.edu

Notices of interest to graduate students to:

Carlee Pollard Director of Student Services 614 East Howard St. Bellefonte, PA 16823 814-357-6945 cka104@psu.edu

Publication Schedule:

Issue: Deadline for contributions: Issue mailing date:

Summer issue July 20, 2004 August 15, 2004 Winter issue November 20, 2004 December 20, 2004 EERA Web Site URL is: http://webserve.govst.edu/eera.index2.htm

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President’s Message – June 2004

My, my, my...look how times flies when you’re having fun bringing enlightenment to eager young minds and exploring the dark recesses of the educational universe. It’s time for another president’s message from yours truly. Where did the months go, you ask? How did I manage to survive this long without my fix of Green witticisms and astute observations on the nature of life, you wonder? And when, you cry in anguish from the depths of your immortal soul, in the name of Dewey and the other great educational philosophers, will he ever get on with it and get to the good stuff!? Well, worry no more because now is the time.

I hope you all enjoyed our annual conference in February. I found it to be most exciting and informative and the comments I received from our members in attendance would seem to indicate they felt the same way. The weather was certainly lovely, though having just come from a horrendous cold snap in upstate New York, almost any set of climatic conditions would have been acceptable as far as I was concerned. I would like to express my deep appreciation to the Division Directors and SIG Chairs and to the members of the Board of Directors for all their efforts. I would especially like to thank Abbot Packard, our Program Chair; Virginia Shipman, our Vice President for Conference Planning, and Scott Ballantyne, our Treasurer for all their hard work to ensure that everything went off without a hitch. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again--I have been blessed with an exceptional group of individuals in leadership positions within our organization and for that I am truly grateful.

Let me take this opportunity to again extend my congratulations to the recipients of our Distinguished Paper Award, Rocco John Perla and James Carifio, both from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, for their paper The Nature of Scientific Revolution from the Vantage Point of Chaos Theory Towards a Model of Scientific Change. By the time you read this column, the paper will have been presented at this year’s AERA annual meeting in San Diego as part of the SRERA Distinguished Paper sessions and I am sure it will have been very well received. I’ll let you know how everything went in the next newsletter.

I would also like to congratulate those individuals elected by the membership to act as regional representatives for EERA. As described in the EERA constitution, regional reps are “responsible for promoting participation in the Annual Conference, and for recruiting new members.” In effect, they help to “spread the good word” about us. So, my thanks to Dennis King, Ellen Barber, Dennis Conrad, Shannon Riley-Ayers, Evelyn Dailey, Neal Shambaugh, Linda McIntyre, Thomas Peterson, Jill Salisbury-Glennon, Glenn Nelson, and Jeffrey Kaiser for agreeing to take on this important role in their respective regions.

For those of you that did not attend the conference, let me say “We missed you!” Our conference is a great place for a graduate student to make that first presentation at a gathering of research professionals. It’s also an opportunity to make new friends, renew old friendships, and learn more about the latest happenings in the wonderful world of educational research. We are also moving to offer our conference attendees more professional development sessions. This year we had sessions on qualitative and quantitative data analysis, using FileMaker Pro to collect data through a web site, interviewing for that first job, hiring new faculty, how to get an article published, and on retirement planning. These sessions were very popular and we plan to continue having them at future annual meetings. I encourage anyone with ideas about future professional development topics to develop a proposal and submit it for consideration for inclusion in next year’s conference. In fact, let me encourage you to start thinking in general about proposal submissions for next year. Consider recruiting a colleague who has yet to attend an EERA conference to submit a proposal or think about working with your students to assist them to develop their own submissions. Next year’s conference will be held March 2-5 at the Hyatt Sarasota in Sarasota, Florida. I know it seems like a long time from now, but it definitely creeps up on you faster than you expect!

So, until the next newsletter and my next missive to the membership, be well, and may all your quantitative studies have power beyond compare, degrees of freedom to spare, and effect sizes that would make the gods of research, themselves, weep for joy. Michael Green mgreen@uamail.albany.edu

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Conference Highlights Conference Key Note Address The keynote address at the conference, “Growing Your Own Researcher: The Role of Undergraduate Research” was presented by Judy Genshaft, President of the University of South Florida. In addition to speaking about examples of undergraduate research done at the university, Dr. Genshaft invited a group of students to provide onsite demonstrations of robotics work at our conference venue. Those in attendance enjoyed participating in the demonstrations and dialoging with the students.

Sessions At the 2004 EERA Annual Conference there were seventy-nine sessions that included over one hundred papers. Professional Development Workshops were held and plans for the future were made.

Strategic Planning Ideas Professional Development Sessions and Membership Survey At the conference in February, EERA held a strategic planning session that generated several issues regarding the membership to be examined. An online survey will soon administered to afford you an opportunity to help direct the EERA in addressing these issues. We have made changes over the past two years based directly on the feedback received from the membership. For example, the implementation of several professional development sessions covering issues regarding topics related to qualitative research, quantitative research, publishing in professional journals, retirement, technology, and interviewing for jobs was based on your input from last year’s membership survey. We plan to continue these professional development sessions at future conferences but need your input to do so most effectively. A forthcoming online membership survey will ask you to describe the types of sessions and topics that would be most helpful, preferred scheduling options, and whether continuing education units (CEUs) should be offered. If you would like to volunteer to conduct a session or have other suggestions, please feel free to contact one of us. Please take a few minutes to respond to the membership survey. Your input is essential to provide for the continued success of the organization. The results of this membership survey will be summarized and reported to the membership. No identifiable information from you is being gathered to ensure your anonymity. We will send you an email with a direct link to the online survey. If you prefer a hard copy, we will send you an attached Word file or a hard copy along with a postage-paid return envelope. Please feel free to contact either one of us if you have additional comments or concerns. If you can’t wait for the email invitation, use: http://frontpage.auburn.edu/education/shanndm/eera2004/ David M. Shannon, shanndm@auburn.edu Director of Membership – EERA 4036 Haley Center Auburn University, AL 36832-5221 (334) 844-3071 (334) 844-3072 – FAX Abbot L. Packard, apackard@westga.edu Program Chair, - EERA State University of West Georgia 143 Ed Annex Carrollton, GA 30117 (770) 838-3180

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Outstanding Paper Award Congratulations to the winners of our Distinguished Paper Award, Rocco John Perla and James Carifio, from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, for their paper The Nature of Scientific Revolution from the Vantage Point of Chaos Theory Towards a Model of Scientific Change. They presented their paper at the AERA annual conference in San Diego. Contact Lucille Sutton for further information about this award.

Thanks to Our Departing JRE Editor It is with heartfelt appreciation and a little sadness that we bid farewell to the departing Editor of the Journal of Research in Education, Donald Biggs. Don assumed the editorship in 1997 and during his tenure worked unceasingly to ensure that JRE was a journal of the highest quality and caliber and a fitting tribute to the research done by the members of EERA and the field at large. His efforts have produced a journal that has garnered praise from around the country and done much to “spread the good word” about EERA. Don’s great work was officially recognized at this year’s annual conference where, at the direction of the Board of Directors, he was given a plaque to honor his contributions to our organization. Don, please accept our deep thanks and very best wishes for the future.

Meet the New JRE Editor With the affirmation of the EERA board of directors, I am pleased to assume the editorship of the Journal of Research in Education. Don Biggs and Betty Yarborough have done a wonderful job with the Journal and with the help of the Journal board and the consulting editors I know that work will continue.

My dean, Thomas Lasley is extremely excited to have the Journal housed at the University of Dayton. Assisting me at Dayton will be Colleen Wildenhaus who will assume the role skillfully performed by Sheila Meisser. We will be assisted by my graduate assistant, Terri Lane, a doctoral student who will keep matters on task as I take a summer and fall sabbatical. Thanks to the new submission and peer review process, I will be able to maneuver from Pennsylvania. David Shannon will continue to make recommendations on manuscripts appropriate to the Statistics and Measurements section. Several additional changes will be occurring with Board including new appointments to replace retiring members. Carol Strax has agreed to assume one vacancy. More decisions based on other names that have surfaced will be forthcoming following our June board meeting.

My first order of journal business was to apply for an ISSN#. Once that is secured, I intend to apply for inclusion in Cabell’s. In addition, several back issues have been distributed to our colleagues across the country with the hope they will encourage their colleagues and students to submit articles for review. To speed up the peer review process, we have moved to on-line submission and review. Thus far we have increased angst but lowered postage costs. The peer review form has also been revised. Recent conversations indicate the need for an indexed section stating our previously published articles. We will discuss that possibility at our next board meeting.

Each year we issue a call for reviewers. Their 2 year terms are staggered and renewable. If you are interested in being considered for a consulting editor position or renewing your term, please send me your current vita and a letter stating your areas of expertise and interest via email (Darla.Twale@notes.udayton.edu). If anyone has any suggestions for a theme issue, please email me with your letter stating those ideas so they can be presented to the Journal board.

If you are working on manuscripts that you feel are appropriate for the Journal’s readership, please allow us the opportunity to review them. Also, encourage your students and colleagues to consider EERA as an outlet for their scholarship. Darla Twale, Editor

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Contribute Back Issues of EERA Materials EERA Historian Ralph Darr is soliciting back issues of EERA materials, such as minutes and conference programs. Query Ralph at adarr@kent.edu or send materials to fill up his basement. See address at front of newsletter.

From the Student Services Director I want to first thank all of the students who attended this year’s conference. Based on the comments I received, I feel as though everyone had an enjoyable time. I know I did!! Personally I felt the workshops were particularly interesting and a good learning experience. There were also several excellent sessions regarding topics of interest to many students such as standardized testing, motivation, and programs in education. I want to first thank all of the students who attended this year’s conference. Based on the comments I received, I feel as though everyone had an enjoyable time. I know I did!! Personally I felt the workshops were particularly interesting and a good learning experience. There were also several excellent sessions regarding topics of interest to many students such as standardized testing, motivation, and programs in education. While the board works to enact changes that will benefit the student members, there are several things I would like to see students do at future conferences to make the presence of our student members more visible. First, I would like to encourage all of the students to attend the business/membership meeting. This is an opportunity to share your thoughts and ideas with the other members of the organization as well as be more informed about issues surrounding the association. Second, I would like to see more students submitting papers for the distinguished paper award. This award is an opportunity for anyone, not just those already established in the field, to showcase a particularly impressive and interesting study. After thinking about what I learned from the conference, I thought I would write a short article about networking at professional meetings for this newsletter. Most members will agree that the EERA annual conference provides an excellent relaxed atmosphere for networking with others in the field. Here are some tips for successfully meeting new contacts at the conference:

• Don’t be shy. I have yet to meet someone at the EERA conference that isn’t willing to talk with me extensively about their research or other topics related to school or research especially after I mention to them that I am a student.

• Look through the program for people presenting papers on topics related to your area of research. The majority of the sessions are small which allows you an opportunity to meet with the presenters before or after their talk to ask questions and introduce yourself.

• Attend events other than the sessions. Make an appearance at the socials and lunch as well as at meetings, workshops and the keynote. These are opportunities to interact with members of the board as well as people that you might miss otherwise.

• Take business cards to the conference (I printed my own). It is much easier than writing out your email address every time you meet someone you want to keep in touch with. Don’t forget to ask others for their cards as well.

• Follow up after the conference with people that you met. You never know when a position might become available at their university related to your area of research.

Hopefully these are tips that you can use next year at the conference. Don’t forget to get in touch with me if you have any comments, questions or concerns regarding students in EERA! I am already looking forward to seeing all of you at Sarasota.

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Election Results for Regional Reps Regional Representatives act as contacts for members and new members. Send any questions or concerns to your Regional Regpresentative. Below are the election results and contact information for EERA’s Regional Representatives:

Region I: Canada, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont Dennis R. King, University of Maine, College of Education, 5766 Shibles Hall, Orone, ME 04469-5766. Office: (207) 581-2439; Home: (207) 866-3442, dennis.king@umit.maine.edu Region II: Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts Ellen Barber, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, Mark Hopkins Hall, 375 Church St., North Adams, MA 01247, ebarber@mcla.mass.edu Region III: New York Dennis Conrad, SUNY Potsdam, 209 Satterlee Hall, Potsdam, NY 13676, conradda@potsdam.edu Region IV: New Jersey Shannon Riley-Ayers Region V: Delaware, Maryland, D.C. Evelyn Dailey; Dept. of Reading, SPED, & ISTC; Towson University, Towson, MD; 21252. Office: (410) 830-3835; Fax: (410) 830-2733; edailey@towson.edu Region VI: Virginia, West Virginia Neal Shambaugh, West Virginia University, 504-J Allen Hall, PO Box 6122, Morgantown, WV 26506 neal.shambaugh@mail.wvu.edu Region VII: North & South Carolina Linda R. McIntyre, South Carolina State University, PO Box 7488, 300 College Street, Orangeburg, SC 29117, lmcintyre@scsu.edu Region VIII: Florida, Georgia, Caribbean Thomas Peterson, State University of West Georgia, 135 Education Annex, Carrollton, GA 30118-5160, tpeters@westga.edu Region IX: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentuck,y, Tennessee Jill Salisbury-Glennon 4036 Haley Center, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849-5221; (334) 884-3064; Fax: (334) 844-3072, salisji@auburn.edu

Region X: Ohio, Pennsylvania Glenn Nelson, Department of Administration and Policy Studies, 5540 Forbes Quadrangle, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260. Office: (412) 648-7106 gmnelson@pitt.edu Region XI: Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Others Jeffrey S. Kaiser, University Professor of Educational Administration, Governor's State University, 529 East Maple Lane, Mequon, WI 53092. Home Phone: (262) 241-8347; Home Fax (262) 241-8348 j-kaiser@govst.edu 2004 Board Meeting The summer EERA Board Meeting will convene June 26-27 in Washington, D.C. Send any comments you would like the Board to discuss to your Regional Representative.

Dates for 2005 Conference The 2005 EERA Conference will be held at the Hyatt Sarasota in Sarasota, Florida, March 2-5, 2005.

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Blythe Hinitz, EECE Forcina Hall 389, P.O. Box 7718 The College of New Jersey Ewing, NJ 08628-0718

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