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Monday, February 02, 2004 UNI professor says merged school districts will increase drug use
Gov. Tom Vilsack recently predicted that Iowa's 370 districts will undergo more mergers, as school budget guarantees begin a phase-out process next fiscal year. The result will be larger schools, often-confusing strings of letters to name the new districts and, says a UNI professor of social work, an increased likelihood that students will use drugs.
Katherine van Wormer is author of the book, "Addiction Treatment: A Strengths Perspectives." She says smaller schools have the least drug problems. "In smaller school, the teachers know the families, offer more individual attention to students, and students are better watched. Because of that, they felt responsible to teachers. They don't want to let them down with negative behavior. Van Wormer says studies indicate that schools with 300 to 600 students are about the right size. "Consolidation is a mistake. We have high schools now that are as big as some cities."
Contacts:
Katherine van Wormer, professor of social work, (319) 273-6379, katherine.vanwormer@uni.edu
Gwenne Culpepper, University Marketing & Public Relations, (319) 273-2761
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Teacher assessment provides insight, if done correctly
"When many people think of accountability, they want to give a standardized test to determine it," says Barry Wilson, director of assessment for UNI's College of Education, describing the recent flurry of statewide conversations about teacher testing. Wilson says testing can be done, but it must be done properly. He is not a fan of most teacher-testing approaches which are, in his opinion, "high stakes," meaning there's a single test and teachers either pass or fail.
"The danger of these kinds of high-stakes tests is that a paper-and-pencil test is not the best way to find out who is a good teacher," Wilson explains, and says tests of actual performance are much better. He notes the high-stakes standardized tests also are unfair to minority candidates, and points out that Iowa has excellent requirements and standards for all teacher-preparation institutions -- like UNI. "In fact, at UNI, we've developed an assessment tool called the Teacher Work Sample that has been nationally recognized as one of the very best assessments of teacher quality."
Contacts:
Barry Wilson, director of assessment, College of Education, (319) 273-2694, barry.wilson@uni.edu
Gwenne Culpepper, University Marketing & Public Relations, (319) 273-2761 ###
UNI professor to discuss American electoral patterns
A UNI faculty forum titled, "American Electoral Patterns," will be facilitated by Donna Hoffman, UNI assistant professor of political science at noon, Feb. 6 in Sabin Hall, Room 121. Hoffman's research interests include a focus on states' election patterns and how those patterns influence presidential elections, as well as research on voting patterns among different demographic groups.
Contacts:
Donna Hoffman, UNI assistant professor of political science, (319) 273, 5916, (319) 273-2039. donna.hoffman@uni.edu
James O'Connor, University Marketing & Public Relations, (319) 273-2761
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