Illinois’ law requiring media literacy education in high schools, the first of its kind in the nation, has been implemented unevenly, according to a study co-authored by School of Education and Social Policy alumnus Michael Spikes (PhD23).
AI assistants like Claude can appear to have emotions, whether by apologizing profusely for making a mistake or expressing frustration when stuck. So, what happens to humans when AI appears to have feelings?
When Lois Calian Trautvetter arrived at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy in 1992 as a postdoc, her interests and career path were all over the map.
Selena Lasota and Nicole Beardsley Montag took very different paths after graduating from the School of Education and Social Policy in 2018, but both kept human relationships at the center of their lives.
More than two dozen School of Education and Social Policy alumni will return home on Friday, Oct. 9 for our annual homecoming luncheon.
School of Education and Social Policy alumnus Braydon Brus and undergraduate Ashley Sessa were named Big Ten Player of the Week in their respective sports.
Andrea Conklin Bueschel began serving as interim director of the Higher Education Administration and Policy program on Sept. 1, 2026.
The Northwestern Collaborative for Applied Research in Education (NCARE), a research-practice partnership that uses data to support students and teachers, is expanding its statewide reach through four new partnerships with Illinois school districts.
Miriam Gamoran Sherin has been named associate dean for master’s and professional education at Northwestern's School of Education and Social Policy, a new role that reflects the growing scope and importance of the master’s and professional programs.
A new federal proposal to loosen rules governing Head Start, the nation’s early childhood education program, will gut the program rather than streamline it, Northwestern University professor Terri Sabol argued in a Chicago Tribune opinion piece.
Northwestern's football program named six captains for the 2026 season — all current students or alumni of the School of Education and Social Policy.
Former Northwestern lacrosse teammates and School of Education and Social Policy alumnae Selena Lasota and Nicole Beardsley Montag will headline the 2026 Ray and Nancy Loeschner Lecture Series on Leadership, speaking at 6 p.m. Sept. 30 in Galvin Recital Hall.
Jack Lausch Earned the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award; Daniel Svärd, Jordan Clayton and Justin Mullins were also honored.
More than 30 percent of Northwestern’s 148 Big Ten Distinguished Scholars for the 2025-26 school year are School of Education and Social Policy students or alumni.
Before professor Lin Xiang discovered the modeling program NetLogo, using tech teaching tools felt to her like visiting a state or national park. “We were restricted to established trails and selected viewpoints, with no way to explore the rest of the terrain,” she said.
When advisor Cynthia Coburn thinks about Melanie Muskin's mind, she thinks of “a wire shooting off tons of sparks” — in this case, research ideas ranging from teacher sabbaticals and quitting videos on TikTok to her dissertation topic, early childhood educators' online community.
As captain of the men’s tennis team during his undergraduate days, Northwestern University’s Jamie Sahara (BS02) learned to lead a team long before he ever ran a company.
Meaningful change is slow, collective and often outlasts the people who fight for it, and that's OK, Zoe Lewis-Woodson said during her 2026 convocation graduate student remarks.
An educator, scholar, and engineer, Victoria Concepción Chávez is passionate about accessibility, computer science education, and social justice.
Otherie Love (1920–2022) was a trailblazing educator, writer, and historian who was known as a voracious reader and lifelong learner. She made history in 1941 when she became the first African American student teacher in Evanston/Skokie School District 65 while studying at Northwestern University.
Alejandra Frausto Aceves (PhD26) used hands-on, community-involved methods to study how diasporic families engage in sophisticated teaching and learning.
School of Education and Social Policy postdoctoral scholars Karla Thomas and briana rodríguez received 2026 National Academy of Education /Spencer Research Fellowships.
Lara Altman came to SESP after nearly 15 years working at the intersection of education, public health, and social work, leading initiatives focused on improving outcomes for children and families.
Peri Green, a learning sciences graduate student at the School of Education and Social Policy, received Northwestern's prestigious Presidential Fellowship for her work exploring how a child’s environment can create or reduce opportunities for learning.
In 1926, the legendary U.S. Route 66 was established, A. A. Milne published his beloved children's book Winnie-the-Pooh, and Henry Ford implemented a pioneering 40-hour work week at his automobile factory.
The first-ever NetLogo user conference for both researchers and K-12 teachers runs June 29 to July 1 in Chicago at the University of Illinois at Chicago, bringing together the diverse communities of NetLogo users and agent-based modelers to share, learn, and make connections.
Northwestern University has launched a new center to improve and maintain NetLogo, a widely used scientific and educational software tool, and to promote literacy in scientific modeling.
When alumna Maddie Zimmer arrived in Evanston in 2020, Northwestern’s field hockey team hadn’t reached a Final Four in 26 years.
Fourteen new PhDs were honored and gifted regalia before the 2026 convocation celebration during the third annual doctoral robing ceremony at Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy.
Northwestern University’s Anusha Kumar, an honors student who studied social policy, received a U.S. Student Fulbright Award to teach English in Linz, Austria.
Graduating seniors Sara Peña Figueroa and Denzel Higiro emceed 2026 Convocation ceremonies, closing in unison with the cheer "Mama, we made it!" — a reference to a career-focused podcast Higiro started at The Garage.
From our highest-ever U.S. News & World Report ranking to the first graduates of two news master's programs, it was a breakthrough year at the School of Education and Social Policy.
Lea Kalkowski's senior honors thesis grew from her experience interning at a legal advocacy nonprofit. After helping more than 70 people through the process of expungement — clearing a criminal conviction from the record — Kalkowski wanted to dig deeper into the issues around implementing policy.
Is your career ‘AI-proof?’ If you’re asking the technology itself for the answer, it can depend on which model you use, according to a new study coauthored by economist Michelle Yin.
Northwestern University’s Madison Taylor, a graduating senior in the School of Education and Social Policy, was named the 2026 winner of the Tewaaraton Award, the most coveted individual honor in collegiate lacrosse.
Charles Logan (PhD26) had just finished encouraging his audience to resist using artificial intelligence and “learn from the Luddites” when a voice called out from the back of the room.
Cynthia Coburn, the Margaret Walker Alexander Professor of Human Development and Social Policy, received the Martin E. and Gertrude G. Walder Award for Research Excellence.
Shirin Vossoughi, associate professor of learning sciences at the School of Education and Social Policy, has been elected a fellow of the International Society of Learning Sciences for her work studying how and why people learn.
Northwestern's Tangible Interaction Design and Learning Laboratory hosted its second annual BitCrush showcase, where Evanston/Skokie School District 65 fifth graders presented music projects created with Python code.
Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy graduate students Andrew Stein and Corey Winchester have received highly competitive NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowships to support their research and career development.
New Northwestern University research suggests negative perceptions about block-based programming can be challenged.
Northwestern University Professor Emeritus Allan Meakin Collins, a major force in the field of learning sciences and cognitive science, died April 20, 2026, after a short illness. He was 88 years old.
Connor Wong was in middle school when he first tried to sell his own stationery and hit a wall. Etsy and eBay had fees and required users to be older. Farmers markets charged $500 for a booth. Nobody was making room for kids.
Entrepreneur and alumnus Jamie Sahara, one of the world’s sharpest thinkers in insurance and risk management, will deliver the 2026 convocation address for Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy.
School of Education and Social Policy Dean Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy, the Carlos Montezuma Professor, was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation's oldest and most prestigious honorary societies.
The history of American schooling is tied to the forced removal of Indigenous peoples — and U.S. institutions must confront that legacy to build a fairer, more just future, School of Education and Social Policy Dean Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy said during the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Distinguished Lecture, one of the signature events of the 2026 Annual Meeting.
School of Education and Social Policy senior Timothy Huff was named a Northwestern University Student Employee of the Year in Community and Belonging for his leadership work with Black Men LEAD, a mentoring program at Evanston Township High School.
Alumna Sloane Barry (BS22) and partner Brennan Hellmers appeared on Shark Tank, pitching SOMNIA+, a bed expander kit designed to make narrow dorm beds more functional and comfortable without replacing the mattress or using tools.
Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy (SESP) has earned its highest-ever ranking — No. 2 among graduate schools of education in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report.
Northwestern University Professor Sepehr Vakil contributed to a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that offers strategies for integrating data and computing into K-12 education.
Professor Mesmin Destin was named a senior fellow with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, joining a national effort to bridge the gap between what young people need to thrive and what high school currently delivers.
Scholars from Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy will address Indigenous futures, AI justice, climate, democracy, and the ongoing effort to improve education at the 2026 American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting in Los Angeles.
Ozivell Ecford, a learning sciences graduate student at Northwestern University's School of Education and Social Policy, has been selected for the 2026 Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society, which recognizes outstanding scholarly achievement and excellence in doctoral education.
Mississippi spends less than half of what New Jersey does on education. Yet its fourth-graders perform better on standardized reading and math tests. Kirabo Jackson explains why.
Northwestern University professor Sally Nuamah has been selected as a 2026 Bellagio Center resident by the Rockefeller Foundation — a prestigious 26-day residency on the shores of Lake Como, Italy.
Humans have a habit of dividing life into stages, but are these categories really useful or meaningful? In a recent New Yorker piece, SESP psychologist Dan P. McAdams tells writer Shayla Love that traditional life stages are limiting.
They call it work for a reason: It’s drudgery, something to slog through until payday. Or maybe you love your job—work is your passion, your identity and nearly all you do. Alumna Bree Groff (MSLOC14) offers a third way to think about how we spend five-sevenths of our week: What if work were simply more fun?
Professor Lauren Tighe’s Child and Family Policy class took one of Dilla’s Mahogany Tours through Bronzeville on the South Side, connecting the policy they learned in the classroom with the communities those ideas shape.
School of Education and Social Policy Dean Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy has been selected to deliver the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Distinguished Lecture, one of the signature events of the 2026 Annual Meeting.
Fungi and their vast, unseen networks can teach us a thing or two about relationships and well-being, professor Carrie Tzou (PhD08) said after a free screening of the documentary “Fungi: Web of Life” in Annenberg Hall.
Northwestern redshirt junior safety Robert Fitzgerald earned College Sports Communicators First Team Academic All-American honors. Fitzgerald, who is studying learning and organizational change, is the first Wildcat football student-athlete to receive Academic All-America honors since Josh Priebe was named to the first team in 2023
Smartphones and social media are making our emotional lives “choppier” by speeding up and intensifying the information we receive, stress researcher Emma Adam said during a recent Northwestern University conference on social and emotional well-being in a digital world.
Juniper Shelley once thought the “cool” research happened in windowless STEM labs, not in the social sciences. But after joining Professor Sally Nuamah’s lab, she realized research can also mean getting out into the world, talking to people, and exploring challenging questions.
The National Network of Research-Practice Partnerships in Education highlighted the impact of a School of Education and Social Policy initiative as part of its annual look at the work of members.
Alumna Carrie Tzou (PhD08), whose career has focused on helping students and educators feel connected to science and place-based learning, has joined Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy as a professor of learning sciences and associate dean.
Undergraduates Keya Soni Chaudhuri and Symone Harris have been named to the 2025-2026 cohort of Block Museum Student Associates at Northwestern University.
Four faculty members and an associated scholar with Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy were named to the 2025 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings for their work bringing research out of academic journals and into everyday life.