Michelle V. Porche

Education 

Harvard University                             1999                Ed.D. in Human Development and

Graduate School of Education                                    Psychology. Dissertation: Patterns of Maternal School Involvement as Predictors of Children’s Academic Achievement

                                                                                    Advisor: Catherine E. Snow

Harvard University                             1990                M.Ed. in Counseling Processes

Graduate School of Education

University of California/                    1984                B.A. in Philosophy 

Los Angeles

Awards and Grants

Ronald R. Edmonds - Charles M. Cheng Memorial Fund, Harvard University, Graduate School of Education. Competitive awards to doctoral students of color for proposals that focus on improving public education for poor children. 1997.

Department of Health and Human Services, Head Start Research and Demonstration graduate student grant "Study of Life Circumstances of Head Start Mothers." Grant No. 90CD0820. Principal Investigator: Catherine Snow. September 1991 - September 1993. ($10,000 per year for two years.)

NIH Graduate Student grant to support research on project "Foundations for Language Assessment - Spontaneous Speech." Grant No. HD23388. Principal Investigator: Catherine Snow. June 1991 - May 1993.

HGSE Entering Award. Awarded by admissions committee to first-year doctoral students considered to be highly promising future professors or school leaders. 1990.

Research Experience 

Research Scientist, Associate Director of the Gender and Sexuality Project, Wellesley College

Center for Research on Women, 1999-present.

Data Analyst: Home-School Study of Language and Literacy Development, Harvard University Graduate School of Education, 1999-present.

Project Associate, Gender and Sexuality Project (formerly The Adolescent Sexuality Project), Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, 1997-1999.

Research Assistant, The Adolescent Sexuality Project, Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, 1995-1997.

Research Assistant: Home-School Study of Language and Literacy Development, Harvard University Graduate School of Education, 1989-1999.

Research Assistant, School of Nursing: Minority Women at Risk for HIV Infection, University of California at Los Angeles, 1989-1991.

Teaching Positions

Lecturer, Wheelock College, September 1999-December 1999. Course title: “Introduction to Research Methods.”

Teaching Fellow, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, September 1994-January 1995. Course title: "Problems of Children and Adolescents: A Developmental Perspective on Risk and Resilience."

Teaching Fellow, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, February 1994-May 1994. Course title: "Intermediate Statistics."

Teaching Fellow, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, September 1993-January 1994. Course title: "Empirical Methods: Statistics for Research."

Teaching Fellow, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, January 1992-May 1992. Course title: "The Psychology of Girls and Women."

Research Consulting

Ohio State Public Schools, February 2001 to present.

Clemson University, Institute on Family & Neighborhood Life, Clemson, South Carolina, December 2000.

Auburn School District, Auburn Maine, April 2000 - March 2001.

Cambridge College, Cambridge, MA, March 1999 - January 2000.

City Year, Boston, MA, July 1996 - February 1997.

Publications and Papers

Stein, N., Tolman, D. L., Porche, M. V., & Spencer, R. (under review). Gender safety: A new concept for safer and more equitable schools. Submitted to Journal of School Violence.

Tolman, D. L., Spencer, R., Porche, M. V. & Rosen-Reynoso, M. (in press). Sowing the seeds of violence in heterosexual relationships: Early adolescents narrate compulsory heterosexuality. Journal of Social Issues.

Porche, M. V. (2001). Parent involvement as a link between the home and school, in

Dickinson, D.K., & Tabors, P.O., (Eds.), Beginning Literacy with Language: Young Children Learning at Home and in School. Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing.

Porche, M. V. (2000). Parent involvement as a predictor of student achievement for low-income children. Wellesley, MA: Wellesley Centers for Women Working Paper Series, WP 303.

Tolman, D. L. & Porche, M. V.(2000). The Adolescent Femininity Ideology Scale: Development and Validation of a New Measure for Girls, Psychology of Women Quarterly, 24, 365-376.

Jordan, G. E., Snow, C. E. & Porche, M. V. (2000). Project EASE: The Effect of a Family Literacy Project On Kindergarten Students’ Early Literacy Skills, Reading Research Quarterly, 35(4).

Porche, M. V. (1999). Patterns of Maternal School Involvement as Predictors of Children’s Academic Achievement. Unpublished dissertation.

Porche, M. V. (1994). Patterns of Change in Maternal School Involvement: Implications for

            Head Start. Unpublished qualifying paper.

Porche, M. V. (1994). Book Note: "Head Start and Beyond: A National Plan for Extended             Childhood Intervention." Harvard Educational Review, 64(1):106-108.

Porche, M. V. (1994). Book Note: "Women's Words: The Feminist Practice of Oral History." Harvard Educational Review, 64(1):114-115.

Porche, M. V. (1992). Editors' Review: "Growing Up Gay in the South: Race, Gender, and             Journeys of the Spirit." Harvard Educational Review, 62(4):567-570.

Porche, M. V. (1992). Book Note: "Women, Work, and School: Occupational Segregation andthe Role of Education." Harvard Educational Review, 62(4):582-583.

Porche, M. V. (1992). Book Note: "Video Kids: Making Sense of Nintendo." Harvard

            Educational Review, 62(3):414-415.

Nyamathi, A., Shuler, P. & Porche, M. (1990). AIDS educational program for minority women at risk. Family and Community Health, 13(2):54-64.

Presentations

Porche, M.V., Rosen-Reynoso M., & Sorsoli, C.L. Television Consumption Measures Related to Adolescent Dating and Sexual Behaviors. To be presented at the Society for Research on Adolescence Annual Meeting, April 2002.

Stein, N., Tolman, D. L., Porche, M. V., & Spencer R. Gender Safety: A new concept for schools. Presented at the National Conference of the National Coalition for Sex Equity in Education, Providence, RI, September 21, 2001.

Tolman, D. L., Porche, M. V., & Spencer, R. Boys, girls and compulsory heterosexuality:

Quantitative and qualitative perspectives. In J. R. Udry & S. Erkut (Chairs), Adolescent Sexual Activity, Orientation and Ideology. Presented at the Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, April 2001.

Porche, M. V., & Ross, S. Academic Success and Struggle:A Study of Motivation and Literacy in a Sample of Low-Income 7^th Graders. In M. Porche (Chair), Adolescence in Context: Investigating the Multidimensional Lives of Adolescents through Mixed-Methods Research. Presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA., April, 2001.

Tolman, D. L., Spencer, R., Rosen-Reynoso, M., & Porche, M. V. “He’s the man!”: Gender ideologies and early adolescents’ experiences with sexual harassment in school. In N. Stein (Chair), The Missing Discourse of Gender in School Safety. Presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA., April, 2001.

Porche, M. V., Spencer, R., & Woronoff, R. (2001). Talking About Sex, You and Me?: The Importance of Adults for Adolescents’ Healthy Sexual Development. Presented at the 2001 Symposium on Youth Development, Boston, MA.

Porche, M. V. & Tolman, D. L. (2000). Adolescent Perceptions of Gender Equity Practices

Related to Self Esteem. Presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA.

Porche, M. V. & Ross, S. (1999). Parent Involvement in the Early Elementary Grades: an

Analysis of Mothers’ Practices and Teachers’ Expectations. Presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada.

Porche, M. V. (1999). A Survival Analysis Using Parent Involvement to Predict Time to First

Retention and Time to First Special Education Placement. Presented at the Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting, Albuquerque, NM.

Porche, M. V., Costello, D., & Tolman, D. L. (1999). It’s Sooner than You Think: a Survival Analysis of Time to First Romantic Relationship for Early Adolescents. Presented at the Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting, Albuquerque, NM.

Jordon, G. E. & Porche, M. V. (November, 1998). Project EASE: Language and Literacy

            Intervention for Parents and Their Kindergarten Children, part of the seminar: “How parents and teachers can support children’s emergent literacy development.”Presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Toronto, Canada.

Tolman, D. L., & Porche, M. V. (1998). Femininity ideology and girls’ sexual health. Presented at the 24^th International Congress of Applied Psychology, San Francisco, CA.

Tolman, D. L., & Porche, M. V. (1998). Femininity ideology as a factor in sexual health

outcomes of early adolescent girls. Presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA.

Porche, M. V. (1994). Mother's Involvement in Preschool Program as a Predictor of Involvement

in the Elementary Grades. Presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA.

Porche, M. V. (1994). Sitting on the Middle of the Bus. Presented at the American Educational

Research Association Annual Meeting New Orleans, LA.

Moreton, J. and Porche, M. V. (1993). Primary Caregivers' Strategies for Managing Family

Stress: An Analysis of Sociocultural Processes at Play in the Use of External Resources. 2nd National Head Start Research Conference Washington, D.C. Poster Presentation.

Porche, M. V. and Moreton, J. (1993). Life Circumstances of Low Income Mothers: Home

Contexts of Learning and Development as Predictors of Early Literacy Skills. Harvard Forum on Schooling and Children: Ready to Learn? Young Children and Their Families. Cambridge, MA

Porche, M. V. and Moreton, J. (1992). Life Circumstances of Lower Income Mothers:

Constructing Home Contexts of Learning and Development. In R. Gallimore (Chair) Pathways to Literacy: Home and School Factors Affecting Kindergarten and First-Grade Achievement presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting San Francisco, CA.

Moreton, J. and Porche, M. V. (1991). Moving Beyond the Deficit Model: Using Process-

oriented Measures of Home Context to Explore the Acquisition of Literacy-related Language Skills. Language and Social Science. Santa Barbara, CA.

Porche, M. V. and Schley, S. (1990). Learning to Say the "L" Word in High School. Lesbian

Bisexual & Gay Studies Conference. Cambridge, MA.

Invitations

Porche, M. V. & Spencer, R. (2000). That’s Just the Way it is: Middle School Girls’ and Boys’ Experiences of Gender Equity in the Classroom. Presented at the 6^th Annual K-12 Gender Equity in Schools Conference, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA. 

Harvard Educational Review             1991-1993                  Board Member

                                                            1992-1993                  Manuscript Editor

Doctoral Admissions                          1991 & 1993               Committee Member

Human Development and 

Psychology

HGSE

Faculty Search for Position                1992                            Committee Member

in Girl's and Women's

Development

HGSE

Human Development and                   1990                            Committee Member

Psychology Colloquia

HGSE

Professional Memberships

American Educational Research Association

American Psychological Association

Society for Research in Child Development

Community Service

1998-present   Community Advisory Board Member, Women Express, Inc./Teen Voices, Boston.

1989-1991      Steering Committee Member, Women Express, Inc./Teen Voices, Boston. Assist in production of a quarterly non-profit magazine, by, for and about teen women. Coordinate Teen Editorial Board, assist with editorial policy. Outreach to teen organizations, perform writing workshops with teens in conjunction with magazine.