Dr. Bowen will describe how persistent academic achievement disparities in US schools necessitate new interdisciplinary approaches to the problem. Conclusions from her own research and extensive involvement in schools in North Carolina suggest that key social work assumptions about development and learning have been missing from educational efforts to address achievement disparities in the past 15 years. Combining social work constructs with high impact, feasible strategies supported by theory and experimental research in education and social psychology may offer hope for altering intractable trends of educational inequality.
Natasha K. Bowen is a professor at the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). Her measurement and intervention research has taken her into over 50 schools in North Carolina and into collaborative relationships with leaders in the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, local school districts, and faculty at the UNC School of Education. Dr. Bowen brings to her educational partners an understanding of the developmental and social environmental influences that affect student academic and social performance in school. In return, she has become acutely aware of the factors that constrain the capacity of teachers, schools, and districts effectively to address achievement disparities. Based on her experiences and past research, her current research agenda focuses on how simultaneously to maximize the feasibility and impact of interventions to address achievement disparities.
