Department News:

• Teri Talan's new publication Talan, T. (2010, May/June). Distributed leadership: Something new or something borrowed? Exchange, 32 (3), 8-12.

• Dr. Teri Talan, ECE faculty member, was elected Chair-Elect of the Council for Accreditation, the advisory board to the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

• Dr. Teri Talan, ECE faculty member was  appointed to the National QRIS Learning Network.

• Wen, X., Korfmacher, J., Hans, S. L., Henson, L. G. (2010). Young mothers’ involvement in a prenatal and postpartum support program. Journal of Community Psychology, 38(2), 172-190.
  
  
• Meisels, S. J., Wen, X., Beachy-Quick, K. (in press). Authentic Assessment for Infants and Toddlers: Exploring the Reliability and Validity of the Ounce Scale. Applied Developmental Science.
  
  
• Dr. Xiaoli Wen: Funded Grant: Mother-Child, Teacher-Child, and Mother-Teacher Relationships: Associations and Differential Predicting Effects on Two-Year-Old Children’s Social-Emotional Development. NCE Faculty Development Fund.

• Dr. Paula Bloom was the featured keynote speaker at the September 16 NACCRRA Professional Development Conference in Phoenix, Arizona.  Dr. Bloom shared with the group of early childhood CCR&R specialists information about Aim4Excellence, the new online national director credential recently launched by the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership at National-Louis University.

• Dr. Paula Bloom received the Chicago Metro Association for the Education of Young Children "Service to Families and Children" Award in January 2010

• Dr.Paula Bloom was the featured keynote speaker at the Childspace Leadership Conference in Wellington, New Zealand on October 30.  Her keynote address, “The Paradoxes of Leadership” will look at the joys and challenges inherent in early childhood leadership roles.

• Dr Barb Leys: Funded Grant: Using Videotaping to Promote Pre-service Teachers’ Self Reflection and Teaching Quality During Field Experience.  NCE Faculty Development Fund

• This past summer, 2009, 32 members of the NLU community engaged in service work with 5 schools in New Orleans.  A team, led by alumni, Adrienne Waller, arriving in NOLA late-July, prepared 1^st grade classrooms for KIPP Central City Academy.  The August team, led by faculty Karen Roth, worked for the first time with 2 Recovery School District Charter K-8 schools, S.J. Green and Arthur Ashe, setting up classrooms for the first week of school.   The volunteers work along with classroom teachers sorting books and classroom supplies, preparing student folders/binders, laminating , organizing teacher storage rooms, cataloging books, and developing friendships with classroom teachers.   Happy Times Preschool and Royal Castle Kids Child Development Center experienced the musical talents of faculty Kristin Lems and the student Eli Sutter, as well as yoga instructions from a Evanston professional.   The diverse teams consisted of NLU current, former and prospective students, full and adjunct faculty from NCE, and  family and friends. This is NCE’s 3^rd summer in NOLA . Over 60 volunteers from NLU have participated since 2007.    New schools are being built every year, which means that NLU’s Partnership with NOLA Schools will see many more summers in New Orleans. Visit the trip blogs to read the reflections and see the work of the groups: www.nlunola2009.blogspot.com.

• Karen Roth, ECE faculty member was inducted into the Illinois Soccer Hall of Fame for her pioneer efforts in establishing women’s amateur soccer in the state and nation-wide.  In 1974, Karen founded the Illinois Women’s Soccer League and was its president for 7 years until she was appointed Midwest regional representative for the United States Soccer Association. Karen was 19 years old at the time.  The IWSL started with 5 teams and when she left there were over 150.  Today, 30 plus years later there are over a 1000 teams.

• Dr.Kathy Sheridan recently presented her research at the Sloan Conference in Orlando, Florida.  The title of the presentation was: MANIPULATING TEACHER PRESENCE IN ONLINE LEARNING: THE IMPACT ON LEARNING EFFECTIVENESS.

• Dr. Kathy Sheridan has been awarded the 2009-2010 National Association for Early Childhood Teacher Educators Technology Leadership Award, awarded in collaboration with the National Technology Leadership Coalition

Read our new books:

• Newman, M., Sheridan, K., & Ogle, D. (2009). Visual Literacy Curriculum. In M. Newman, C. Spirou & D. Fouts (Eds.), Teaching with primary Sources: Collected Works, Volume 2 (pp. 49-54). 2009 Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities    ISBN# 0-9749279-3-7

• Teachers College Press has announced the release of a new resource for family child care. Written by NLU faculty Drs. Teri N. Talan and Paula Jorde Bloom, the Business Administration Scale for Family Child Care (BAS) is designed to measure the quality of business and professional practices of center-based early childhood programs. The BAS reflects the growing professional consensus that the quality of family child care is determined by more than a provider's nurturing heart and caring interactions with children. Research on family child care indicates that providers who utilize effective professional and business practices are more likely to view family child care as a career. They are also more likely to provide a higher quality learning environment and interact more sensitively with children.

• Department Chair, Kathleen Sheridan, cited in Chicago Parent. Read about it here. 

• Join the Education Club at National-Louis University! Contact Charlotte Metoyer for more information.

Upcoming Conferences:

• Illinois Reading Council Conference
  When: March 18-20, 2010
  Where: Springfield, Illinois
• ILAECTE Bi-annual meeting
  When: April 23 Where: National-Louis University: Chicago Campus Time: 9 a.m.-12
• 54th Annual Conference of the Comparative and International Education Society
  When: March 1-5, 2010
  Where: Chicago Illinois [at the historic Palmer House]
• Illinois AEYC Growing Futures Conference
  When: September 30 - October 2, 2010
  Where: Crowne Plaza Hotel Springfield, IL