Ideas Featured

Duane Watson Duane Watson and Yolanda J. McDonald, two faculty members of Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development, recently published articles in Nature and Nature Water, respectively. McDonald’s article is in the inaugural issue of Nature Water, which was published in January. Watson, Frank W. Read More

By Jane Sevier A five-year, $6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs will continue funding of the IRIS Center at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of education and human development. The center, founded in 2001, bridges the research-to-practice gap through a free,… Read More

By Jenna Somers Brent Evans (Vanderbilt) On February 28, the Supreme Court of the United States will hear arguments in two cases challenging the legality of the Biden administration’s student loan debt relief program, which, if it prevailed, would cancel about $400 million in debt for about 16 million… Read More

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently appointed University Distinguished Professor Velma McBride Murry to the National Advisory Mental Health Council. The council advises the current U.S. secretary of health and human services and the director of the National Institute for Mental Health. Read More

Vanderbilt Peabody College Professor Mary Louise Hemmeter has received an $11.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education to expand the Pyramid Model for Promoting Social Emotional Competence in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms in diverse districts across the country. Read More

Autumn Kujawa, assistant professor of psychology and human development, recently received a two-year, Brain and Behavior Research Foundation Young Investigator Grant of $70,000 for a novel study to identify biomarkers associated with suicidal behavior in adolescents. Read More

Armed with a two-year, $141,444 grant from the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research, Professor of Psychology and Human Development Elisabeth Dykens is developing the first psychometrically sound self-report survey of hyperphagia for people with Prader-Willi syndrome. Read More

Sarah Brown-Schmidt, professor of psychology and human development, recently received a three-year $382,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for her research project, “Perspective-taking in Conversation,” to understand the cognitive mechanisms that allow people to engage in everyday conversation. Read More

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine recently appointed Associate Professor of Psychology and Human Development Lisa Fazio as a member of the Committee on Understanding and Addressing Misinformation about Science. Read More

The Institute of Education Sciences recently awarded a five-year, $4 million grant to a research team based at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development and the University of Texas at Austin to examine the efficacy of Sound Partners, a reading intervention, delivered through cross-age peer tutoring. Read More

Newly published research from Peabody College of education and human development and the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation highlights the perspectives of the paralysis community on COVID-19 vaccine boosters. Among the key findings is evidence that individuals living with paralysis have specific safety concerns that should be addressed… Read More

By Andy Flick Associate Professor of Psychology and Human Development Laura Novick, and graduate student Joanna (Jingyi) Liu, published a paper highlighting the importance of intentionally and thoughtfully designed figures to explain evolutionary relationships and overcome preconceived misconceptions. The work was inspired, in part, by a common misconception… Read More

The Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development recently released its third annual Prenatal-to-3 State Policy Roadmap at the Research to Policy Summit. This guide informs state policy leaders and advocates about the most effective policies and strategies for supporting… Read More

President Joe Biden has appointed Vanderbilt Peabody College research professor Douglas Fuchs to serve on the 15-member National Board for Education Sciences. The appointment was announced Oct. 27. Read More

The U.S. Supreme Court will again review the constitutionality of affirmative action Oct. 31 when it hears the cases of Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. University of North Carolina. Assistant Professor of Higher Education and Public Policy Kelly Slay will join many of her colleagues in Washington, D.C., to engage in rallies related to these cases. Read More

Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of education and human development is working with the American University of Iraq–Baghdad to improve higher education and build a stronger teacher workforce in the region. The institutions were recently awarded a two-year, $2.5 million grant from the U.S. State Department to design and launch a new college of education focused on teacher training and development, with plans to seek Iraqi Ministry approval for the college by fall 2023. Read More

Proponents of full inclusion—placing students with disabilities in general classrooms for most of the school day—maintain that the more time those students spend in such classes, the better they do academically. A new paper by Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development researchers challenges that assumption.  Read More

The Wallace Foundation recently awarded a four-year, $1.42 million grant to Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development and Mathematica for a new study to expand knowledge about assistant principals and provide new insights on how the role can help diversify the principal profession and advance educational equity.  Read More

Join Peabody College professor Ilana Horn and co-author Brette Garner of the University of Denver for an online conversation about their new book, Teacher Learning of Ambitious and Equitable Mathematics Instruction: A Sociocultural Approach, on Thursday, Sept. 22. Read More

The latest issue of the Peabody Journal of Education focuses on the pandemic’s consequences for equity and social justice, with insights on the PK-16 education system’s initial response to COVID-19 and how the first year of the pandemic affected education and educational inequality. Read More