NEWS & EVENTS

febrUARY 2008

DEAN'S MESSAGE: The new year has brought cold weather to Toronto, but heat to local educational politics. The Toronto School District’s decision to start an Africentric school, and the Falconer report on school safety have engaged OISE students and faculty, as well as the public, the media, the school board and the provincial government...More

ISSUES THAT MATTER: Homework
A just-released study  by Linda Cameron and Lee Bartel shows that not only does homework not improve the achievement of students from junior kindergarten to Grade 6, but also is a major source of stress and burnout in children, and of family strife...More

The study: Homework Realities: A Canadian Study of Parental Opinions and Attitudes 

ISSUES THAT MATTER: Africentric Schools
Can an Africentric school improve the achievement of black students? George Dei, who has been recommending Africentric Schools in Toronto for a long time, was pleased by the Toronto District School Board vote to establish such a school, because it will enhance efforts by schools to be more inclusive of African-Canadian experiences...More

ISSUES THAT MATTER: School Safety
How can we ensure a safe environment in secondary schools? The Falconer report on school safety recommends over 100 measures, the majority focusing on prevention. Kathleen Gallagher maintains the central issue is "how we go about making safer and more humane school corridors and classrooms" in an opinion piece Teens feel like criminals in high security schools, published in the January 25 Toronto Star. Read the full text here...More

Falconer report: The Road to Health: A Final Report on School Safety. 

ISSUES THAT MATTER: Youth Violence
Gangs, guns and random acts of violence--should Canada get tougher on young criminals? Michele Peterson-Badali joined host Steve Paiken and Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair on TVO's The Agenda to discuss crime and the punishment of young offenders, and to explain what the research says about the causes of youth violence in TVO's look at the plan to toughen up the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

The research: Parents’ involvement in youth justice proceedings: perspectives of youth and parents, by Michele Peterson Badali and Julia Broeking, report to the Department of Justice Canada

NEWS: Student blends academics and community service
Helen Tewolde, MA student in Philosophy of Education with a focus in Comparative, International & Development Education in the Department of Theory & Policy Studies, was recognized by the Skills for Change with a 2008 New Pioneer Award for community service and activism in international development and education in Africa, and immigrant and refugee advocacy...More

NEWS: OISE Grad's PhD thesis to represent U of T
Laurie Mook’s PhD thesis, Social and Environmental Accounting: The Expanded Value Added Statement, was selected by the University of Toronto as the University's representative (one per university) for the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools Doctoral Thesis Competition, Social Sciences & Education. Each year the Northeastern Association of Graduate Schools recognizes an outstanding dissertation that has been produced by a PhD candidate at one of its member institutions...More

STUDENT RESEARCH PROFILE: Dana David
Degree & Year: PhD, year 2
Program: School and Child Clinical Psychology
Department: Human Development and Applied Psychology
Supervisor: Esther Geva
Thesis/research project: Development of Morphological Awareness in English-speaking Children Learning Hebrew as a Second Language...More

NEWS: UofT's nomination for Frye IT leadership program succeeds
Laurie Harrison has been selected to attend this year's Frye Leadership Institute, an intensive two-week residential program held at Emory University in Atlanta. Frye is North Amercia's premier program for developing tommorrow's leaders in Higher Education Information Technology...More