Girls outperform boys in digital literacy skills
Lindsay Woodward is the co-author of a Reading Research Quarterly article that has been gaining national attention in a couple different forums. Her co-author summarized their findings for Education Week and School Library Journal websites.

Student honored
Drake doctoral student Kim Wayne was selected to represent Iowa at the #NationofMaking event at the White House.

Professor quoted 
Todd Hodgkinson was interviewed and quoted by the Desert News in an article on summer learning.

Visitors from Venezuela 
On Thursday, June 30, the SOE hosted seven English teachers from Venezula and their hosts from the U.S. State Department and the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. SOE graduate Ana Cara Van Dyck and students Kelli Carter and Kate Brightwell joined Associate Professor Shelley Fairbairn in presenting to and talking with the teachers about how we prepare ESL at Drake, with Assistant Dean Catherine Gillespie as host. The teachers asked many questions about teacher training, supervision, and evaluation and learned a great deal from their brief visit.

Student Research Assistants
Madeleine Emrich and Sydney Staudt have been selected to assist Sally Beisser, recipient of the Ronald Troyer Research Endowment Fellowship for 2016–2017, to write a book on early childhood giftedness. Their efforts include writing and editing chapters on myths of the gifted learner, recognizing gifted behaviors in preschool and primary classrooms, and effective curriculum design for high-ability children. Research funds will support their attendance at the Iowa Talented and Gifted (ITAG) conference and travel to the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) in Orlando, to be a part of an accepted research presentation at this conference. Both Maddie and Sydney are completing the TAG endorsement at Drake and will graduate Spring 2017. Professor Beisser directs the online TAG endorsement program available for undergraduate and graduate students. Students in this program represent 27 states and 8 countries since 2007, when the endorsement was first offered.

—Catherine Gillespie, Associate Dean, Mary Collier Baker Endowed Professor