Hello OCEAN Community,

Welcome to the Spring quarter. I hope each of you is doing well. I'm hopeful that improving conditions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic means we might all see each other in person in the near future. We're really excited to share some new perspectives and news from the past quarter. Our community research seminars have been going so well, and we encourage you to sign up for the Spring seminar series (see below). Thank you to all of the community panelists, faculty, and students that have led seminar sessions so far (and those upcoming). We are all thankful for the teachings you have given us. To our community partners, we are always appreciative for your partnership work we continue to do together.

Best,
 
Director & Associate Professor
UCI School of Education
Community Based Research Seminar

We are now collecting registration for the Spring 2021 OCEAN seminar. School of Education graduate students, faculty, and interested community partners are invited to attend. The seminar will occur bi-weekly on the following dates from 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.: April 1, April 15, April 29, May 13, and May 27.

If you plan to attend please register here to receive the Zoom link. If you have any questions, contact Erica Van Steenis: erica.vansteenis@uci.edu 
 
We look forward to seeing you in attendance!
Partner Spotlight
Research Update: Network Improvement Community Formed to Support Housing Insecure & Foster Youth
In August, 2020 the Spencer Foundation awarded OCEAN and project leads Dr. June Ahn, Dean Richard Arum, and Samueli Academy Executive Director Anthony Saba to work with local schools and community organizations. The grant supports the implementation of systems to support housing insecure and foster youth across Orange County. Fall quarter, Graduate Student Researchers Chris Wegemer, Lora Cawelti, and Verenisse Ponce-Soria and Post-doctoral Scholar Erica Van Steenis, recruited educators and practitioners from schools and organizations across Orange County to form a Network Improvement Community (NIC). We held meetings to establish team structures and norms, brainstormed ideas to connect with partners, and interviewed practitioners and educators to better understand the issues they face.

After interviews were conducted, the team took partners’ responses and organized our first convening, which included 10 core partners from 7 different schools and organizations. The 2-hour session began with an overview and timeline of the project and continued to an activity where partners reflected on how equity manifests in their work with housing insecure and foster-youth. The activity set the stage for the relationship-building exercises that followed. Partners connected with each other via Zoom break-out rooms and reflected on the pressing issues they face in their work. We then collectively discussed the scope of issues we could work on as a team.

With so much energy and enthusiasm from partners, the 2-hour session flew by. The team left the session feeling energized and excited to continue refining the research focus. After months of uncertainty and living in ambiguity, this project, like the world around us, is giving us energy and hope for the future.

~Written by Graduate Student Researcher Verenisse Ponce-Soria
Forming an RPP: Jiwon Lee Offers Her Perspective
OCEAN REEO Report

The COVID-19 pandemic required schools, educators, and families to pivot to new modes of learning and revealed pressing issues of access for families across Orange County.

In July 2020, the UCI Office of Inclusive Excellence awarded a group of School of Education professors a grant in its "Are We in This Together? Advancing Equity in the Age of COVID-19" program.

The project – Reimagining Educational Equity and Opportunity during the COVID-19 Pandemic (REEO) – is a collaboration between the School of Education's Orange County Educational Advancement Network (OCEAN) and the Center for Research on Teacher Development and Professional Practice, and addresses existing disparities in educational opportunities in low-income communities of color that have been exacerbated by COVID-19 and the transition to remote learning. REEO is led by School of Education Professors June Ahn, Brandy Gatlin-NashRossella Santagata, and Adriana Villavicencio
Other News

Jennifer ​Renick, a fourth-year doctoral student, is one of 10 UCI graduate students honored as a 2021 Public Impact Fellow. As a part of her research, Renick will facilitate a youth-participatory action research project in partnership with a local middle school, where a group of students will identify an aspect of school climate that they would like to improve and then design their own research project to investigate the issue, implement a solution, and study its impact.
 
“Engaging adolescents as co-creators of research, rather than just subjects, allows us to leverage their expertise on issues they experience directly to generate research with greater accuracy and practical implications to improve their school community,” Renick said.

Congrats on receiving this award Jennifer!
Reimagining Science Education with Climate Change
For over a decade, Dr. Kelley Le has been in the educational field as a high school science educator, instructional coach, and educational leader. She is currently leading the UCI Science Project to support K–12 science educators and leaders. She currently develops and facilitates programs in the areas of climate change education, environmental literacy, science and equity, nanoscience, and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

She recently wrote the article Reimagining Science Education with Climate Change, in which she documents her use of storytelling with visuals to personalize climate change education and provide context to students. She argues that, "rethinking science education means that we need to ask deeper questions about whether or not schooling works or was designed for everyone." In her upcoming book, Teaching Climate Change for Grades 6–12: Empowering Science Teachers to Take on the Climate Crisis Through NGSS (Routledge, 2021), she supports educators in thinking through what using climate change as anchoring content should look, feel, and sound like. 
Graduate Student Chris Wegemer Publishes in Journal of Latinos and Education
Graduate Student Researcher Chris Wegemer recently published his first author article, "College services, sense of belonging, and friendships: The enduring importance of the high school context in supporting the college success of marginalized students," in the Journal of Latinos and Education. Congrats to Chris on this publication!