Alison Black

In the past ten years as an educator, Alison Black has worked in a variety of roles, communities, and classrooms throughout San Diego county: special education instructional aide, CAHSEE small group and individual instructor for juniors and seniors, 8th-grade sheltered EL, general education history, humanities, and language arts, and board member/curriculum development leader for BeREALStudents, a San Diego non-profit whose mission is to empower youth through cultivating connectedness and school community with student-led initiatives.  

Alison received a Bachelor’s degree in International Studies (primary emphasis in political science, secondary emphasis in world literature with a special focus on French literature) along with a multiple subject credential, single subject credentials in language arts and social studies, and a Master of Education (M.Ed.) with a focus on social-emotional learning from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). She completed her doctoral degree in teaching and learning (Ed.D.) from UCSD in June, 2016. Her research focuses on the experiences of military-connected early adolescents in civilian schools and how they utilize assets and resources to overcome the challenges associated with navigating their multiple cultural worlds. The study mainly focuses on social networks and the role they play in shaping early adolescent developmental and school experiences, especially for highly mobile youth, with an emphasis on social justice and differential experiences among subgroups.

University of California, San Diego, BA,  2005

University of California, San Diego, M.Ed. 2009

University of California, San Diego, Ed.D. 2016

Multiple Subject Teaching Credential, 2009

English Single Subject Teaching Credential, 2010

Social Studies Single Subject Teaching Credential, 2010

Books and Book Chapters

Black, A. (In press, 2016). Facilitating cognitive and social-emotional growth: Empathy and  prosocial behavior in Osanloo, A. (Ed.), Creating and negotiating collaborative spaces for socially just  anti-bullying interventions and innovations  for k-12 schools.  Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Refereed Conference Proceedings

Presentations:

Black, A. (2016, April). Military-connected adolescents in civilian schools: How underserved youth find support. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Washington D.C.

Black A. (2016, April). Teaching for impact: Innovative strategies for today’s standards sponsored by the Education Studies

Department and the Center for Research on Educational Equity, Assessment and Teaching Excellence (CREATE).

Black, A. (2014, April). Facilitating cognitive and social-emotional growth in the middle school classroom: An evaluation of the Empathy Integrated curriculum. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Philadelphia, PA.

Golden Key Honor Society, 2015

Travel Grant Awards Showcase, sponsored by GSA and the Alumni Association, May 2016

Selected to attend the AERA Division E Graduate Student Preconference Seminar, April 2016