The Weekly Recap
News and Updates from Across BU Wheelock SPACE This Week
Welcome to this week’s recap! This week we share community updates, provide details on faculty engagement, and highlight recently published research and upcoming events.
New Announcements
BESE Meeting: The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) voted Tuesday to require career and technical schools to use a lottery system for admissions. The move eliminates the use of selective criteria—such as grades, counselor recommendations, and interviews—that advocates say have disproportionately excluded marginalized students. The board also approved new, temporary graduation requirements in response to the recent elimination of the MCAS exam as a graduation requirement. Under the new rules, students must complete two years of high-school English Language Arts; either Algebra I and Geometry or Integrated Math I and II; and one year of a science or technology/engineering course. Starting with the Class of 2027, U.S. history will also be a required course.
Out and About
EdVestors Showcase: Mary Churchill (Assoc. Dean, SPACE), Irene Dennison (Assoc. Director, SPACE), Cara Mattaliano (Asst. Director, SPACE), Heather Johnson (Asst. Dean, BU Wheelock), and Hardin Coleman (Professor and Dean Emeritus, BU Wheelock) attended EdVestors’ Annual Showcase. This year’s event brought together educators, community partners, researchers, and students to highlight the power of community-defined and community-informed data as drivers of educational improvement. The event also featured remarks from BPS Superintendent Mary Skipper and BU Wheelock Dean Penny Bishop, as well as a panel discussion featuring BU Wheelock Senior Lecturer Ariel Tichnor-Wagner,
Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health: Cara Mattaliano (Asst. Director, SPACE), attended the launch event for new research on Massachusetts’ infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) workforce. Hosted by The Boston Foundation, the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC), and Boston University, the event convened policymakers, advocates, and service providers to explore strategies for strengthening coordinated, well-resourced systems that support the mental and relational well-being of young children and their families. The program featured a research presentation by Alicia Mendez (Research Asst. Professor, BU School of Social Work) and Jenny Zhang (Research Assistant, BU School of Social Work), and concluded with remarks from Professor Ruth Paris.
YMCA: Cara Mattaliano (Asst. Director, SPACE) participated on the BU team at the 2025 YMCA of Greater Boston Games—a corporate challenge fundraising event—alongside Cecilia Nardi (Director of Government Affairs, BU) and Jim Curley (Director of State Relations, BU). The team competed against numerous university athletic departments and earned a highly respectable tie for third place.
Faculty Engagement
Public Testimony: Jerry Whitmore (Asst. Professor, BU Wheelock) provided public testimony during the U.S. Department of Education’s hearing on Title IV regulations, where he highlighted the equity implications of student loan forgiveness and access to STEM education for first-generation and underrepresented students. You can view his comments from the public hearing here.
Research That Matters
Expansive Learning Possibilities for AI and Education: Caught between expansive world-building and the status quo: Using figured worlds to understand world-building in AI for educational co-design contexts (co-authored by Asst. Professor Michael Chang)
In this study, researchers explored a central question: In co-design contexts, how do youth participants collectively envision expansive- learning possibilities for AI and education? Partnering with high school–aged youth, the team sought to envision AI-powered educational futures that promote equity and joyful learning— particularly those that fall outside of the standard practices of U.S. public education. The workshop surfaced a complex and often contradictory range of proposals. Some participants imagined caring & nurturing classroom spaces where they could work together and see each other as full humans beyond numbers in a gradebook. Others proposed AI-ED tools that would label peers as disruptive or uncollaborative, excluding them from their learning contexts. The researchers’ analysis resulted in a new world-building framework based on the concept of "figured worlds”, and then connected the framework with pedagogical structures and facilitation processes to help youth turn early ideas of new, just learning environments into real, AI-powered possibilities outside of the status quo.
Important Updates in US Higher Education
Trump Administration Blocks International Students at Harvard: On Thursday, the Trump administration revoked Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students. The decision, communicated in a letter from Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, affects Harvard’s ability to sponsor F- and J- visas for international students and scholars for the 2025-26 academic year. International students comprise nearly one-quarter of Harvard’s student body—approximately 6,800 individuals during the 2024–2025 academic year. In response, Harvard filed a legal complaint and announced plans to seek a temporary restraining order to halt the administration’s move.
Tracking Executive Action: EducationCounsel, an education policy and consulting firm, has developed a document providing a summary and analysis of Trump Administration executive actions affecting education. The resource offers clear explanations of the actions taken and their potential impact across early childhood, K–12, and higher education. Access the document here.
Upcoming Events
June 12 - Making the Case for Continued Federal Research. Education research drives innovation, informs decision-making, and promotes equity. In this session of BU Wheelock’s Conversations with the Dean series, BU Wheelock faculty will explore the value of federally funded research and how it shapes real-world outcomes—from large-scale studies to niche research initiatives. Learn about the impactful projects they are working on—and what’s at stake if funding is reduced. Join Dean Penny Bishop in conversation with Liz Bettini (Assoc. Professor, Special Education), Naomi Caselli (Assoc. Professor and Director, BU AI & Education Initiative), and Leslie Dietiker (Assoc. Dean of Research). Register here.
📅 Date: Thursday, June 12th, 2025
🕒 Time: 3:00 - 3:45 PM EST