Division H: Research, Evaluation, and Assessment in Schools (Steve Henry, Vice President 2006-2009)
The Affirmative Action Committee was chaired by Evelyn Belton-Kocher. She participated in the Coordinated Committee Meeting of AERA in Washington, DC during the fall of 2008, attended the AERA Annual Brown v. Board of Education Symposium in Washington, D.C., and attended the Affirmative Action committee meetings at the Annual Meeting in San Diego.
The Breakfast Business Meeting Committee was chaired by Gail Flanagan. The committee secured sponsorship for the 2009 breakfast, reserved a room at the conference center, coordinated tickets with AERA staff, organized door prizes, and ensured the breakfast was in the program. Division Secretary, Zollie Stevenson, assisted with the breakfast program and awards process. We sold 180 breakfast tickets on line through pre-registration. Attendance was down about 10% this year mirroring the drop for overall AERA attendance this year that was no doubt triggered by the economic downturn.
The Exhibits Booth Committee was chaired by Jim Wohlleb. He coordinated the shipment and display of materials for our exhibit booth operations during the annual meeting in San Diego, promoted professional practice through display of last year’s and this year’s winners of the division Outstanding Publications Competitions, and promoted Division H by distributing materials and networking at the exhibit booth. Nancy Prothero and ERS assisted with distribution of the materials following the conference.
The Division H Senior Graduate Student Representative this year was Saad Chahine. He attended the 2008 Coordinated Committee Meeting in Washington and planned the conference Graduate Students Fireside Chat and Reception with help from our Junior Graduate Student Representative, Bercu Kaniskan. Whitney Wall was selected to serve as Junior Representative to the Graduate Student Council assuming office after the conference. The division held the Graduate Student Seminar on Monday morning of the conference and followed it immediately with our Mentoring for Early Career and Graduating Students program. Both sessions were well attended.
Jim Deegan served as International Relations Committee chair and his committee identified AERA overall International Relations activities and structures, established linkages with International Relations committees for AERA and other divisions and coordinated the creation of an international symposium exploring research on teacher induction. The Membership Committee was chaired by Scott Dantley and Colleen Paeplow was assistant chair. They made renewal contacts with Division H members whose division membership was about to expire or had expired. A recruitment letter was sent to those AERA members not currently belonging to any division and to SIG members with similar interests to Division H. A letter was also sent to the Classroom Assessment, Research on Evaluation, School Indicators/Accountability, and School/University Collaboration inviting them to participate in our social/reception at the conference. This was the first year for Division H to operate under the new name “Research, Evaluation, and Assessment in Schools” and the change appears to be increasing interest in our division. Our division membership jumped by about one third from 1525 at the 2008 conference to 2093 at the 2009 conference. Our division membership is now higher than it has been for at least a decade.
The Mentoring for Early Career and Graduating Students Committee was chaired by Steve Schellenberg. He updated the Division H Mentorship announcement, included articles for 2009 mentorships in the newsletter, reviewed applications, selected four mentees for 2009, and brokered mentor/mentee partnerships. He also held a well attended session Monday morning at the 2009 conference just after the Graduate Student Seminar.
The Reality Test Newsletter editor was Brad McMillen. Mary Yakimowski served as assistant chair. The division produced Fall and Spring/Preconference newsletters which were published on our division web site and announced on our list serve. The Nominations Committee was chaired by Mary Yakimowski, the Division H immediate past vice president. A “call for nominations” for Secretary as published on the listserv, the committee determined the potential slate, and confirmed nominees’ interest in the position. The committee met by phone to discuss candidates and determine final slate. The election was held and Dale Whittington was elected as incoming Secretary. She will assume office following the 2010 conference.
David Holdzkom chaired a committee on restructuring our division awards program to comply with new AERA requirements limiting each division to just six annual awards. To meet the requirements we eliminated the Outstanding Presenter and Discussant Awards and cut the number of Outstanding Publications awards from twelve to six categories. The division’s formal proposal was approved by the AERA Executive Committee at their October, 2008 meeting.
David Holdzkom also chaired the Outstanding Publications Competition Committee. Vicki Cartwight served as assistant chair. The committee processed electronic submissions and produced a CD of the submissions which was distributed to members at the annual breakfast/business meeting. The publications were also on display at our division booth in the AERA exhibits area.
The 2009 division Program Committee was chaired by Dale Whittington and processed 334 submissions up just slightly over last year. The acceptance rate was 53.3% for the Division, 52.0% for individual submissions and 57.7% for symposia. Donna Snodgrass, Julie Snipes-Rea, Shahpar Modarresi, Paul Favaro, and Bruce Hislop served as section chairs. The committee met in Cleveland to finalize the program.
The Social Reception Committee was chaired by Joe McCrary. He reserved the restaurant “The Bitter End” and advertised the 2009 social reception. Graduate students and members of aligned SIGS were also invited.
The Web Site Committee was chaired by Raymond Moy. He provided basic web site updates and new postings, analyzed the web site structure and identified priorities for revision.
It was a great privilege to serve as VP for Division H these past three years. Many thanks to all the division H members who pitched in to complete the many tasks of our active division. Best wishes to Faith Connelly in her role as incoming VP. The division will be in very capable hands.