• Read more about Special education has tough transitions, great opportunities ahead

COVID-19 forced all teaching in Arizona to go to an all-online format this past spring, including special education supports and services.

Special education district leaders and teachers quickly made the transition to finish out the semester, but they face serious complications — and unexpected opportunities — to build equitable and inclusive practices in the fall.

To get a better perspective on the issue, ASU Now spoke with Arizona State University’s Lauren Katzman, executive director of the Urban Collaborative, which is housed in ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College.

• Read more about From our journals: Anti-racist teaching in an era of inequality and more

This month, we focus on the nation’s most pressing issues. The COVID-19 crisis has altered the lives and realities of most people. Pandemics, says Michael W. Apple of Bejing Normal University, are in some ways equalizers. “Illness and death are faced by people across the economic spectrum,” he says. But that doesn’t mean the loss is equal. Minorities and the impoverished suffer more, in healthcare, homeschooling and more. 

• Read more about MLFTC partners with Brooklyn Lab Charter School to create back-to-school guide

Update: After conversations and design sessions with organizations including Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Brooklyn Laboratory Charter Schools published a Success Coaching Playbook. The guide is a research-based framework that is available for educators and schools wanting to build a network of success coaches to work with students one-on-one and in small-group settings.

• Read more about Faculty publication roundup, July 2020

• Read more about Faculty accolades, July 2020

Assistant Professor Carrie Sampson is the recipient of the 2020 William J. Davis Award from the University Council for Educational Administration. Presented annually since 1979, the Davis Award is usually given to the author or authors of the most outstanding article published in Educational Administration Quarterly in the preceding year.

• Read more about Finding the silver lining for learning

It started with a single tweet: What happens if schools close for a year? 

Soon, faculty members from universities across the country were discussing how the COVID-19 pandemic might foster long-term shifts in learning and teaching. Together, they launched Silver Lining for Learning to move the conversation forward.

• Read more about Remote learning, on demand

Phoenix’s Creighton School District and Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College partner regularly during the school year on internships and residencies that prepare ASU students for careers as teachers.

• Read more about Remembering Michael Piburn, Professor Emeritus

Michael Piburn’s social media pages are rich with photos of what he loved: cactuses and hollyhocks in bloom, sunsets over the Phoenix dessert, his many friends and children of friends, and glimpses of life at home and evenings out with his wife, Dale.

Michael Dee Piburn passed away on June 22 after a brief illness. He was 80. From 1989 to 2004 he was a professor of science education at Mary Lou Fulton College of Education. Piburn also served as the college’s associate dean for research.

• Read more about MLFTC faculty members provide rapid research response to COVID

The transition from in-person to online learning required by the coronavirus pandemic left the education community rushing to find ways to meet the needs of all learners. Many Mary Lou Fulton Teacher College faculty members pivoted quickly to bring the benefits of their research to bear on empowering teachers to manage this new education landscape.

• Read more about Leanna Archambault on online learning during the pandemic

Associate Professor Leanna Archambault was the guest for the July 7 “Ask an Expert” segment on KCBS radio in San Francisco. Listen as she spends 20 minutes with host Stan Bunger, answering questions about online education and the challenges confronting teachers and administrators this school year.