Education and child development experts from the Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development are available for back-to-school interviews. Peabody College was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the No. 3 education school in the nation in 2007.
Vanderbilt has a campus broadcast facility with a dedicated fiber optic line for live TV interviews and a radio ISDN line. Contact Melanie Moran at (615) 322-2706 or melanie.moran@vanderbilt.edu to schedule an interview with any of these experts or to find experts on other education topics.
Boosting math and science skills
Camilla Benbow, vice-chair of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel and a member of the National Science Board, is available to talk about the importance of math and science education to America’s ability to compete globally. Benbow can also discuss the potential implications for students and educators of the $43 billion America COMPETES Act recently signed into law by President Bush. Benbow is Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College and is co-leading a 50-year study on mathematically precocious youth. She is a Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development investigator.
Bio: http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/x6737.xml
No Child Left Behind Reauthorization
James Guthrie is available to discuss issues surrounding the reauthorization of NCLB, its implementation thus far, and its impact on schools, teachers, students and researchers. Guthrie has served as an education specialist for the U.S. Senate, was a special assistant to the assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and is a frequent consultant for local, state and national educational agencies in the United States and abroad. He is author or co-author of 10 books and more than 200 professional and scholarly articles. Guthrie is director of the Peabody Center for Education Policy, chair of the Department of Leadership, Policy and Organizations and professor of public policy and education.
Bio: http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/x4782.xml
No Child Left Behind and Testing; Students’ Social Skills
Stephen Elliott is an international expert on large-scale testing and the interplay between social behavior and academic performance. He is publishing a book this fall on the top 10 social skills for students. Elliott is a professor of special education and Dunn Family Professor of Education and Psychological Assessment.
Bio: http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/x4782.xml
Helping kids handle stress
Judy Garber can discuss options for parents in helping their teens safely handle stress and treat depression, which may arise as the school year gets underway. Garber is leading a national study, Teens Achieving Mastery over Stress (TEAMS), which helps teens overcome stress and reduce or avoid depression without medication or as a supplement to medication. Garber is a professor of psychology, an assistant professor of psychiatry and an investigator in the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development.
Bio: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/psychological_sciences/Garber
Study habits
Kathleen Hoover-Dempsey can discuss the role and influence of parents in children and adolescents’ education and development, and can provide tips for parents to help their children develop strong study habits. She and her students study both why parents become involved and the impact this has on the children’s work habits, behavior and school engagement. Hoover-Dempsey is chair of the Department of Psychology and Human Development.
Bio: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/psychological_sciences/hoover_dempsey
Technology in the classroom
Ted Hasselbring has conducted research over the past 30 years on the use of technology for enhancing learning in students with mild disabilities and those who are at-risk of school failure. This research resulted in several widely used computer-intervention programs for struggling learners, including READ 180, a reading software program now managed by Scholastic, Inc. Read 180 is in more than 10,000 schools and has been used by more than 1 million students. Hasselbring is a research professor of special education.
Bio: http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/x3446.xml
Performance incentives for teachers
Matthew Springer is the director of the National Center on Performance Incentives at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College, funded with a $10 million federal grant to determine the impact, if any, financial incentives for teachers have on student achievement. He has also served on several advisory committees charged with designing performance-based compensation systems for teachers and/or principals at the state and district level, and conducted analyses of school finance systems in Alaska, Kentucky and South Carolina.
Bio: http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/x2031.xml
Teacher qualifications – when the teacher isn’t qualified
Thomas Smith can discuss his and his colleagues’ findings that alternative certification, often touted as a way to bring non-teachers with professional experience into teaching to improve quality and boost teacher ranks, does not generally achieve those goals. He can also discuss the options available to schools when dealing with underperforming teachers, and what strategies work best to boost teacher performance. Smith is an associate professor of public policy and education.
Bio: http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/x1541.xml
Dropout rate
Carolyn Hughes, appointed in May 2006 to Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell’s Task Force on Dropout and High School Restructuring, can discuss critical interventions needed to reduce the dropout rate in U.S. schools. As part of her work on this issue, Hughes manages a program that pairs Vanderbilt undergraduates with youth in high-poverty high schools to encourage those students to complete high school and go on to college. Hughes is a professor of special education and a Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development investigator.
Bio: http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/x1288.xml
Classroom “troublemakers”
Kathleen Lane studies the connection between academic underachievement and emotional and behavioral disorders. Her work in classrooms has helped teachers to reduce the impact “troublemaking” kids have on other students, while helping those troubled children focus and learn by addressing their emotional and/or behavioral disorders. Lane is the co-author of three books on this topic. She is assistant professor of special education and a Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development investigator.
Bio: http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/x1314.xml
Children and violence
Jessica Giles studies children’s early perception and understanding of violence, anger and aggression, how this
development differs between boys and girls, and how a better understanding of how children perceive violence can lead to the development of better violence prevention strategies. She is an assistant professor of psychology.
Bio: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/psychological_sciences/Giles
Bullies
Maury Nation can discuss understanding and preventing violence and bullying among youth and the short- and long-term consequences of peer harassment. He is the author of numerous scholarly articles and book chapters on school violence and bullying. Nation is assistant professor of human and organizational development.
Bio: http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/x1620.xml
Charter schools, student achievement
Mark Berends is director of the National Center on School Choice at Peabody, a federally funded center that exercises national leadership in school choice research, including charter and magnet schools, private school vouchers, teacher recruitment, school management and state policymaking. Berends has written and published extensively on comprehensive school reform, Title I and standards-based reform, the effects of family and school changes on student achievement trends, and the effects of secondary school tracking on students’ cognitive and social development.
Bio: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/schoolchoice/berends.html
School assignment plans
Ellen Goldring, Claire Smrekar and Mark Berends are available to talk about the impact of the
recent Supreme Court decision on desegregation and new school assignment plans that take greater account of family income. The three submitted briefs to the Supreme Court on the cases regarding the use of race in school assignment, which the court found to be unconstitutional.
Bios: Goldring http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/x1463.xml
Berends http://www.vanderbilt.edu/schoolchoice/berends.html
Smrekrar http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/x1546.xml
Media contact: Melanie Moran, (615) 322-NEWS
melanie.moran@vanderbilt.edu