Current News
- Deborah Loewenberg Ball elected president-elect of AERA
Deborah Loewenberg Ball has been voted president-elect of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Her term as president begins on May 1, 2017, at the conclusion of AERA’s 2017 Annual Meeting. “I am honored to have been elected as president-elect of AERA,” Ball said. “The organization has an important role to play in advancing systematic efforts to study and improve education. I will be working with many others to determine the most useful steps we might take together in the coming few years. I look forward to building on the work that Vivian Gadsden will do in her term as president, as well as on that of others who have served in this position before us.”
Read AERA's press release here »
- Deborah Loewenberg Ball Named to Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education
Deborah Loewenberg Ball has been named to a new commission announced by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences to “examine the vast—and expanding—array of learning options available to high-school graduates, including both students newly out of high school and older adults returning to school to further their lives and careers.” The aim of the Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education is to study how well current students are served by today’s education system, as well as to identify challenges and opportunities that will be encountered by higher education in coming decades.
Read the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ press release here »
- Deborah Loewenberg Ball one of NPR’s “50 Great Teachers”
Deborah Loewenberg Ball is featured on National Public Radio’s series on 50 Great Teachers. In a wide-ranging October 24 feature, Ball talks about educating educators: “I'm really trying hard to dispel this idea that teaching is this thing you're born to do and it's somehow natural to everyday life. I don't think either of those things is true. Nobody goes out in a pilot school and is told: 'Go out in the plane today! Try it out. See how it works.’" The feature also mentions TeachingWorks and the Elementary Mathematics Laboratory (EML), and concludes with a summary of Ball’s approach to education: “What Ball is trying to model at U-M is a system where future teachers have to demonstrate they can do some core things—like present a math problem, and lead a discussion about it—before they're safe to practice.
Read a transcript of the program or listen to the audio on NPR’s website »
- Deborah Loewenberg Ball Quoted on KQED’s Mind/Shift
A October 20 feature story on the U-M School of Education’s teacher education programs, posted on KQED’s Mind/Shift, quotes Deborah Loewenberg Ball. Ball explains, “Teaching is complex work that people actually have to be taught to do,” and goes on to elaborate on how the School of Education accomplishes it, through innovations in high-leverage teaching practices, development of student teaching interns, skill-building, and student teaching.
Read more at KQED’s website here »
- Deborah Loewenberg Ball Mentioned in Detroit News Column
In an October 27 column written by Michigan Education Association President Steven Cook appearing in The Detroit News’ “Labor Voices,” Cook cites the work of the Michigan Council for Educator Effectiveness (MCEE), which was chaired by Deborah Loewenberg Ball. Cook writes, “Although the legislation passed by the House and Senate does not contain all of the council’s recommendations, it represents a vast improvement over the present evaluation process. It is important to note that in creating the Ball Commission and using its report as a guide to reform, the Legislature acknowledged that experts in the field are invaluable in guiding education reform forward. That too is a change for the better.
Read more at the Detroit News site here »
- Deborah Loewenberg Ball Quoted in Deseret News
A July 2 story in the Deseret News on teacher preparation quotes Deborah Loewenberg Ball. On the contention that teaching skills can be taught, mastered and tested, Ball said, “Our position is that [the] profession should take responsibility for this."
Read more at the Deseret News site here »
- New York Times Columnist Features Work of Deborah Loewenberg Ball, MCEE
A June 16 column by Joe Nocera, an op-ed columnist for The New York Times, features the work of Deborah Loewenberg Ball with the Michigan Council for Educator Effectiveness (MCEE). Nocera said, “The council’s idea was that the evaluations could be used not just to rid the system of incompetent teachers—though it would certainly do that—but also to give all the other teachers critical feedback. It also envisions transforming professional development, which is now mostly a wasteland, into a mechanism to put that feedback into practice.”
Read more at The New York Times site here »
- Deborah Loewenberg Ball Interviewed by Bridge Magazine
In a June 4 story, Bridge magazine examines proposed state legislation on teacher evaluations that significantly departs from recommendations by a council led by Deborah Loewenberg Ball. The Michigan Council for Educator Effectiveness recommended rigorous statewide standards, but pending legislation ignores the council’s recommendations in favor of local district control over teacher accountability. Ball says the legislation is “disappointing” and “makes no sense.”
Read more at the Bridge site here »
Read a Q & A with Ball here »
- Deborah Loewenberg Ball Receives Honorary Degree from Lesley University and Medal for Distinguished Service from Teachers College
Deborah Loewenberg Ball received an honorary degree from Lesley University in Boston and addressed graduates from the university's Graduate School of Education at their commencement May 16. In addition, Ball received the Teachers College Medal for Distinguished Service at TC's convocation May 18. The award is given to scholars who have highlighted critical issues in research and practice and championed strategies for change.
Read more at the School of Education’s website here »
- Interview and Essay by Deborah Loewenberg Ball on Michigan Radio Website
Deborah Loewenberg Ball has contributed the essay “We will pay for our lack of respect for teachers” to Michigan Radio’s The Next Idea, in which she notes the crucial nature of effective teacher training. “The time is now. The future of our nation depends on every student in every classroom receiving skillful teaching every day. This is a fundamental civil right of every child,” she said.
Read the essay and listen to an interview with Ball on Stateside with Cynthia Canty here »