Professor Emeritus, Childhood Education and CareSullivan Building 205B978.542.7041
R. Clarke Fowler, Professor Emeritus, chaired the department of Childhood Education and Care from 2013-2018. Prior to joining the faculty at Salem State in 1995, he taught preschool and kindergarten, worked as a family daycare licensor in the Massachusetts Office for Children, and served as the administrative assistant to the senate chair of the Massachusetts legislature’s joint committee on education. He is currently conducting research on the impact of grade-level overlap between elementary and early childhood teaching licenses in the United States.
Impact of grade-level overlap between elementary and ECE licenses, teacher licensure testing, PreK-3 alignment in Massachusetts, and Developmentally Appropriate Practice.
Professor Emeritus
Courses taught include:
EDU 105 - The Premise of the School and Child Care
EDU 350 - Reading, Language, and Children's Literature in Early Childhood Education
EDU 422 - ECE Student Teaching Practicum
EDU 921 Seminar in Early Childhood Education and Child Development
Fowler, R.C (2019). Educator licensure overlap in the early grades: Why it occurs, why it matters, and what to do about it. Phi Delta Kappan. 101 (1), 12-17.
Fowler, R.C. (in press). Credentials of teachers in states where elementary and early childhood education licenses overlap in grades K, 1, 2, and/or 3. Journal of Research in Childhood Education.
Fowler, R.C. (2018, April 4). The disappearance of child-directed activities and teachers’ autonomy from Massachusetts’ kindergartens. Defending the Early Years. https://www.deyproject.org/uploads/1/5/5/7/15571834/ma_kindergartens_final.pdf.
Fowler, R.C. (2017). Exploring the relationship between early childhood and elementary grade-level overlap and early childhood teacher output. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 38(2), 150-163.
Fowler, R. C. (2017). Reframing the debate about the relationship between learning and development: An effort to resolve dilemmas and reestablish dialogue in a fractured field. Early Childhood Education Journal, 45(2), 155-162.
Fowler, R. C. 2016). Grade-Level overlap and standards mismatch between nationally recognized programs that prepare teachers for grades PreK-3. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education 37(3), 203-215.
Fowler, R.C. (2009). Addressing New England’s teacher shortages. New England Journal of Higher Education, 23(5), 10-11.
Fowler, R.C. (2008). The heralded rise and neglected fall of the Massachusetts Signing Bonus, Phi Delta Kappan, 89, 380-385.
Fowler, R.C. (2006). Comparando las perspectivas de Piaget y Vygotski sobre el desarrollo y la educación, Psicologia, Invitados Especiales, 25 (1), 115-152.
Fowler, R.C. (2003). The Massachusetts Signing Bonus Program for New Teachers: A model of teacher preparation worth copying? Education Policy Analysis Archives 11(13).
Fowler, R.C. (2002, August). Fast-track ...Slow going? Ed Policy Briefs, 2 (1).
Fowler, R.C. (2001). What did the Massachusetts teacher tests say about American education? Phi Delta Kappan, 82, 773-780.
Haney, W., Fowler, R.C., Wheelock, A., Bebell, D. & Malec, N. (1999). Less truth than error? An independent study of the Massachusetts Teacher Tests. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 7 (4).
Fowler, R. C. (1998). Limiting the domain account of early moral judgment by challenging its critique of Piaget. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 44, 263-292.
Feldman, D. H., & Fowler, R. C. (1998). The nature(s) of developmental change: Piaget,Vygotsky, and the transition process. New Ideas in Psychology, 15, (195-210).
Fowler, R. C. (1992). Siegler and Crowley's (1991) conception of development. American Psychologist, 47 (10), 1239-1240.
Fowler, R.C. (2019, April). Elementary principals’ early childhood credentials: Results of a 13-state study. Poster session presented at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Toronto, Canada.
Fowler, R.C. (2018, April). Credentials of teachers in 24 states where elementary and early childhood education licenses overlap in grades K, 1, 2, and/or 3. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the AERA, New York, NY.
Fowler, R.C. (2017, April). Early childhood credentials held by K-3 teachers and elementary principals in five states. Poster presentationat the annual meeting of the AERA, San Diego, CA.
Fowler, R.C. (2015, April 19). Grade-level overlap between elementary and early childhood education (ECE) licenses and its impact on ECE teacher output. American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.
Fowler, R.C. (2014, April). Overlapping grades and differing standards between NCATE-recognized programs that prepare teachers for PreK-3. American Educational Research Association, Philadelphia, PA.
Fowler, R.C. & Nelson, G. (2012). Licensure changes needed to advance PreK-3 alignment in Massachusetts. Massachusetts Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators. Available at: http://www.salemstate.edu/academics/schools/24787.php
Fowler, R.C. (2011). Analysis of the PreK and K sections of the MA English Language Arts Curriculum Frameworks, MA Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, Sturbridge, MA.
Fowler, R.C. (2009). Discussion of papers on teacher diversity and the Massachusetts licensure exam: The MTEL Pass Rate Study Group, American Educational Research Association, San Diego CA.
Op-Ed: Research shows link between recess, silent reading, and student performance, Salem News (2/5/05, p. B5).
Gardening and Travel