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UCLA's GSE&IS + Sudikoff Family Institute for Education & New Media Tap Jeannie Oakes As Fellow for 2002 - '03

The Sudikoff Family Institute For Education & New Media in UCLA's Graduate School of Education & Information Studies (GSE&IS), has announced it has awarded its inaugural fellowship for 2002 - '03 to Jeannie Oakes, Presidential Professor of Educational Equity. The Sudikoff Family Institute was established to create a public forum for the research and scholarship of GSEIS faculty whose expertise can contribute meaningfully to the understanding of, and debate about, important issues in education and new media.

The Sudikoff Family Institute tapped Dr. Oakes for her work in examining the unequal distribution of resources and opportunities in education, and for her support of urban teachers, students, and low-income school communities.

Supporting work that utilizes new media as a catalyst for change, the Sudikoff Family Institute also recognized Dr. Oakes for her fostering of the grassroots online education community, Teaching To Change LA (www.teachingtochangela.org). With the emphasis of Oakes' work on promoting equity and increasing access to high quality public schooling and college participation for under-represented minority students, the website is instrumental in supporting urban school communities in greater Los Angeles, and is an online journal and resource for teachers, students, parents and activists.

Reflective of the widespread interest in education reform, the website has received more than 2.5 million hits since its inception in January, 2001 and has had more than 147,000 visitors. It provides key educational resources, including information on educational justice issues, how to obtain a teaching certificate, and also posts the Educational Bill of Rights.

Oakes is the lead author of "Teaching To Change the World," (McGraw-Hill) and "Becoming Good American Schools: The Struggle for Civic Virtue in Education Reform" (Jossey-Bass), and is a widely recognized scholar who has researched the inequalities in U.S. schools and examined the progress of equity-minded reform. She is renowned for her studies on how tracking and ability grouping affect the school experiences of low-income students and students of color, many of whom are identified as "low-ability" or "slow" learners. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Education Press Association of America. Oakes is also Director of UCLA's Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access (IDEA), and the University of California's All Campus Consortium on Research for Diversity (ACCORD).