Panhia Lee

School environment key to retaining teachers, promoting student achievement, study finds

New research identifies four organizational and administrative factors that can decrease teacher turnover and lift student test scores in math. 

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] —A school is more likely to retain effective teachers, a new study reports, if it is led by a principal who promotes professional development for teachers, is characterized by collaborative relationships among teachers, has a safe and orderly learning environment and sets high expectations for academic achievement among students, a new study reports.

The study, which focused on middle schools in New York City and used data from the Department of Education’s School Survey, broadens the context in which teacher effectiveness and student achievement is considered, its authors said.

“In recent years, researchers and policymakers have focused much of their attention on measuring and improving teacher effectiveness,” said Matthew A. Kraft, assistant professor of education and economics at Brown University and lead author. “However, teachers do not work in a vacuum; their school’s climate can either enhance or undermine their ability to succeed with students.”

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Jake Zimmer ’19 named Changemaker Fellow by Social Enterprise Greenhouse

Sophomore Jake Zimmer of Monroe, CT, an advocate for entrepreneurial initiatives at Bryant, has been named a 2016 Changemaker Fellow for by Social Enterprise Greenhouse (SEG) in Providence, RI.

Changemaker Fellows, selected from among Rhode Island’s 11 universities, collaborate to connect student entrepreneurs with resources and opportunities. With support of the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation, they develop entrepreneurship programming, activities, and ideas at their respective schools. Each of the nine Fellows receives a $1,500 stipend for a year of service. Tim Levene ’17 was a 2015-2016 Changemaker Fellow.

Zimmer serves on the executive board of Bryant’s chapter of the Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization (CEO) and is the director of the Bryant University Northeast Entrepreneurship Conference (BUNEEC), one of the largest entrepreneurship events in the region. His efforts bring successful entrepreneurs from all over the country to campus to provide inspiration and guidance to Bryant’s aspiring entrepreneurs and innovators. Zimmer is also a play-by-play announcer for Bryant’s Division I athletic teams on NEC Front Row and is a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.

“I’m excited to be a Changemaker Fellow,” said Zimmer, a double major in Social Entrepreneurship and Management. “I want to inspire young entrepreneurs to realize that they can truly have a recognizable impact, not only in their community, but also worldwide.”

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Higher education must innovate in order for graduates to be successful in workforce

This commentary, written by Edward Kairiss, Ph.D., Director of Faculty Development and Innovation at Bryant University, originally appeared in the American Management Association’s fall 2016 issue of AMA Quarterly.

Modern organizations exist in an increasingly complex, globally interconnected environment, and must adapt and rapidly reinvent themselves in response to new challenges. Innovation, creative leadership, and fluencies in multiple domains are hallmarks of many successful institutions. What kind of employee do they need to continue to be successful?

Employers in any professional discipline are looking for employees who approach problem solving by drawing on multiple varieties of knowledge, and can apply quantitative and qualitative methods to find a solution. Being able to think critically and write effectively are essential proficiencies. Many business situations require a collection of critical thinking skills, such as being able to distinguish good data from bad, asking smart questions of clients and colleagues, and thinking about a problem from multiple perspectives. In addition to being able to work in a team of diverse individuals, people who can acquire new skills quickly and independently will bring more value to an organization.

Many business schools highlight the success that their students experience in the post-graduation job market, no doubt an important factor in attracting students to this academic discipline. However, there is also data that suggests that the lifetime earnings of many non-business majors can equal or exceed that of business graduates. Indeed, there are numerous examples of highly successful CEOs and other business leaders who majored in humanities or some other liberal arts discipline.

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Brown initiative to help bridge humanitarian, academic efforts

With the Humanitarian Innovation Initiative at the University’s Watson Institute, Dr. Adam Levine and colleagues hope to improve the effectiveness and accountability of disaster preparedness, humanitarian response and post-emergency reconstruction through scholarship.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — From the horror of the Ebola epidemic in Liberia to the urban slums of Bangladesh, where annual springtime rains bring cholera and dehydration to thousands of children, Dr. Adam Levine has worked to foster collaboration between two well-meaning fields that are nevertheless often culturally at odds: relief and research. A medical veteran of those crises and others, Levine believes that academic rigor and perspective can make humanitarian work more effective and evidence based, and that aiding disaster relief can engage academia directly in saving many thousands of imperiled lives.

Now, through the Humanitarian Innovation Initiative (HI2) that Levine has founded at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, he hopes to greatly expand the opportunities for students to learn, researchers to study, and humanitarians to heal together.

“Getting these two very different cultures to work together is not going to happen naturally, but it can still happen with some dedicated work and advanced planning,” said Levine, an associate professor of emergency medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School and a physician at Rhode Island Hospital. “That’s a big part of what HI2 is really supposed to be about — bringing together academics from Brown University and elsewhere with humanitarian practitioners in the field to develop projects that can improve care in future emergencies.”

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