The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) has named Gerald Campano, associate professor in the Department of Literacy, Culture, and Language Education of the Indiana University School of Education, as the 2009 recipient of the David H Russell Award for Distinguished Research in the Teaching of English, one of the most distinguished awards in English language education. The organization selected Campano for his 2007 book Immigrant Students and Literacy: Reading, Writing, and Remembering (Teachers College Press).

The third annual Chinese Pedagogy Institute concludes this week on the Indiana University campus after two and a half weeks of intensive work to prepare more teachers of the Chinese language. The institute is a project of the Center for Chinese Language Pedagogy (CCLP) within the College of Arts and Sciences.

A professor from the Indiana University School of Education is heading to China for a month to provide input to Chinese educators who are reforming their English instruction system. Faridah Pawan will spend a month in China observing classrooms and working with teachers of "English as a Foreign Language" (EFL), as it's called there. Pawan is an assistant professor in the department of Literacy, Culture, and Language Education, and she is director of TACIT -- a program to prepare more English as a Second Language (ESL) instructors.

Dean of the Indiana University School of Education, Gerardo Gonzalez, will be the keynote speaker Thursday morning (Oct. 23) for the "Educational Equity for Indiana's Latino Students" Conference at the Sheraton North Hotel in Indianapolis. Gonzalez will share some of his personal story as a Cuban immigrant and address some of the pressing issues in Latino education in Indiana. His address is at 9 a.m., beginning a day of sessions focusing on Latino education.

Continuing the "Pathways Initiative" that began collaborative projects last year, the Indiana University School of Education is funding four projects this year to bring faculty expertise and IU staff assistance together with teachers in Indiana's schools. Two projects based at Gary, Ind. elementary schools will build upon already established Pathways projects; two others will start new projects at Indianapolis high schools.

A national advocate of immigrant students will address an Indiana University group completing certification for English-as-Second-Language teaching. Roger Rosenthal, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Migrant Legal Action Program Inc., will address the annual Tandem Certification of Indiana Teachers (TACIT) summer retreat on Friday, June 27.

Around 200 of the top literacy researchers in the U.S. and world will be at the Indiana University School of Education in Bloomington this weekend for the National Council of Teachers of English Assembly for Research's mid-winter conference.

The Indiana University School of Education has received a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The grant will fund a partnership between the School of Education at IUPUI and the Indianapolis Public Schools to implement a five-year project to better prepare teachers of English Language Learners before they begin their careers, develop skills of current teachers, and revise teaching methods of IU faculty.

The latest cohort of teachers has completed the Tandem Certification of Indiana Teachers (TACIT) program, a federally-funded program offered by the Indiana University School of Education to more quickly certify English as a Second Language teachers for the state of Indiana. Seventeen teachers picked up TACIT completion certificates during this week's retreat on the Bloomington campus.

A team of Indiana University School of Informatics seniors are breaking away again this year with a special project to accurately track riders' progress in the IU Student Foundation's Little 500 bicycle races, April 20-21.

In the February 2007 edition of Learning Matters, Indiana University researches discuss how to effectively teach to English as a second language students and offer their insight into homeschooled children.

The National Teacher of the Year, Kimberly Oliver, will appear in Bloomington this month to share her inspiring story of how she raised academic performance at a low performing school just north of downtown Washington, D.C. through important collaborations and despite substantial obstacles, such as poverty and language issues. She is speaking on Feb. 12 in Bloomington at the Indiana University School of Education.

A consortium including Indiana University's Center for Social Studies and International Education has received a $38 million grant to restore and improve the educational system in Afghanistan.

Learning Matters discusses faculty and student research involving the rights and responsibilities of college students, why children's books need not always have happy endings, and culturally-relevant group counseling techniques that could help residents in an African country cope with the AIDS epidemic.

Learning Matters for May discusses faculty research involving college students' needs to inform their instructors as early as possible about a learning disability, challeges faced by immigrant students who speak little English and ways to keep girls out of jail.