In June 2024, the National Academy of Education and Spencer Research Foundation recognized two alums and one doctoral student from Michigan State University College of Education for their innovative education research to “address critical issues in the history, theory, or practice of formal or informal education, at the national and international levels.”
Caroline Bartlett
Caroline Bartlett is a recipient of the NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship. The prestigious award is given to individuals whose dissertations demonstrate the potential to offer innovative and impactful perspectives on the history, theory, analysis, or practice of both formal and informal education globally.
Approaching her final year of the Education Policy Ph.D. program, Bartlett’s research focuses on how policy affects English language learners. Her dissertation examines how state and district policies can enhance educational opportunities for English learners in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a former educator of English learners, she saw a lack of educational resources impacting their outcomes. “Students needed different things,” she said. “I started asking, ‘how can we open up courses to students who are still learning English and make sure they’re served in a rigorous way.” As a result, she began her doctoral journey and has since joined the college’s Education Policy Innovation Collaborative as a graduate assistant.
In the role, she is examining how Michigan’s early literacy law is being implemented across the state and its impacts on students and educators through a project titled “Read by Grade Three.” She has also collaborated extensively with the Michigan Department of Education to investigate English learners’ access to career and technical education courses.
The $27,500 fellowship will cover the cost of Bartlett’s final year in the doctoral program. Regardless of where Bartlett’s career takes her following graduation, she aims to continue making a significant impact in the lives of students. “I want to be in a position where I can collaborate with school leaders and policymakers to provide research evidence on how they can better serve their students,” she said.
Tashal Brown, Ph.D. ‘20 (Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education)
Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education (CITE) Ph.D. program alum Tashal Brown is a recipient of the NAEd/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship. Each year, the fellowship supports 25 early career scholars engaged in critical areas of education research. As part of the recognition, she will receive professional development, $70,000 in funding, and mentorship from senior scholars in the education field. “I was happy to be a semifinalist,” said Brown, who was urged to apply by her scholarly mentors and recommenders of the award. “Receiving the fellowship still feels surreal to me.”
Beginning in Fall 2024, Brown will collaborate with several middle school students and teachers in Rhode Island with the goal of developing and implementing a curriculum that prioritizes Black histories and cultures. The project will investigate the impact of power and oppression on students’ lives while centering and affirming Black histories, cultures, and literacies. This work builds on her previous research on equity in schools.
The first year of the project will be spent developing the curriculum in collaboration with teachers and facilitating its implementation. The second year will focus on analyzing the data collected from student and teacher interviews.
Brown’s research is also inspired by personal experience. An immigrant from Jamaica and former New York City Public Schools educator, she saw a lack of representation and history of Black individuals from diverse ethnic backgrounds in the school curriculum. This motivated her to research and develop curricula that encompasses a broader diasporic perspective on Black history and culture.
As an assistant professor at the University of Rhode Island’s Feinstein College of Education, she hopes to one day expand this innovative curriculum to other school districts, offering localized narratives for students to engage with in social studies classes.
Cassie J. Brownell, Ph.D. ‘18 (Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education)
CITE alum Cassie J. Brownell was also selected as one of 25 applicants to receive the 2024 NAEd/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship. An assistant professor in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, her project examines how children’s civic identities and political understandings evolve across K-12 schooling.
Brownell’s funded inquiry stems from her dissertation work with elementary children in the Greater Lansing area in 2016, which coincided with the presidential election. In 2020, with support from a NAEd/Spencer Research Development Award, Brownell launched the second iteration of her study by reconnecting with children from her dissertation. This fall, she will return to the area to engage with past participants and consider how children’s perspectives change across time and in response to national and local political landscapes.
By engaging with children throughout their schooling, Brownell aims to highlight the nuanced ways they comprehend and interact with political discourse. She came to understand the need to amplify children’s experiences thanks to her dissertation advisor, Professor Amy Parks, stating, “Much research centers the teacher at the front of a classroom, but fewer studies focus on the other bodies or their experiences in the space.”
Notably, MSU has a tradition of alums, faculty, and students receiving the prestigious NAEd/Spencer Fellowships. Many awardees have gone on to serve as National Academy Members, including alumna Okhee Lee, professor in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University.
“The NAEd/Spencer Fellowships represent an investment in both the fellows and their ideas for shaping education research,” said Lee, who serves as Chair of the NAEd Professional Development Committee. “Moreover, these fellowships can offer life-changing opportunities. My fellowship a couple of decades ago altered the course of my career and my personal life, and I am deeply grateful. It is my privilege to work with and support our fellows in the coming year.”
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