Ideas In Action Featured

As fewer people enter the education profession and high rates of principal turnover persist, school districts need strategic and systematic approaches to recruiting, hiring, and supporting effective school leaders. Principal pipelines may be the answer. Principal pipelines are a comprehensive and aligned system for identifying, developing, and supporting school leaders. Read More

The Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center at Vanderbilt University Peabody College of education and human development has launched the Early Childhood Governance Landscape, a new tool that illustrates how states structure early childhood governance—and what those choices mean for coordination, funding, and access to services for young children… Read More

The IRIS Center at Vanderbilt, which provides free online resources about teaching and learning, helped about 1.5 million people from all 50 states, more than 1,000 public school districts and more than 1,500 U.S. colleges and universities. That’s an increase of 15 percent over 2022, reflecting the growing importance of online instructional resources in today’s educational landscape. And its reach is even broader than that—hospitals, health care systems and justice systems logged in to benefit from its effective, evidence-based resources. Read More

In two recent studies funded by the National Institutes of Health, moderate-severe TBI was associated with difficulties in communication, namely remembering spoken language and integrating information in gesture with speech. Both impairments can inhibit a person’s ability to understand and effectively communicate with others, but the research teams hope the studies’ findings could pave the way for improved therapies and assessments to help people with TBI communicate more easily in their daily lives. Read More

By Jennifer Kiilerich Meghan Burke, professor of special education at Peabody College Only about 20 percent of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities currently access formal support services. Meghan Burke, professor of special education at Vanderbilt Peabody College, has built a career around growing that number, helping… Read More

By Jennifer Kiilerich More than 60 percent of American students aged 12-18 are interested in a career in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, according to a 2023 Walton Family Foundation survey. On the road to a life in STEM, proficiency in high school math has been identified by researchers as… Read More

By Jenna Somers Many young children struggle in math due to difficulty in understanding place value and calculating with two-digit numbers. But would the burden of learning these foundational concepts ease if they were introduced to children through the fun of playing a board game? A multi-institutional research team, including… Read More

By Jenna Somers   A transdisciplinary team at Vanderbilt University seeks to identify Tennessee communities at risk of exposure to toxic man-made chemicals in their drinking water. Yolanda J. McDonald In response to a 2024 regulation from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Tennessee Department of Environment… Read More

Two recent studies by researchers at Vanderbilt University and New York University offer valuable insights for practitioners, policymakers and researchers seeking to address persistent racial inequities in school discipline. The studies examined teacher and student perceptions of... Read More

Robust state activity has transformed the prenatal-to-3 state policy landscape in just five short years. Children and their families are better off in 41 states that have each increased access to the resources known to support their wellbeing. As a result of states’ investments: Nearly 1.9 million individuals became… Read More

Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development has received three new grants to leverage its expertise as a leading college of education to strengthen K-12 and higher education in South Asia and the Middle East. Peabody faculty and staff will partner with universities in Pakistan and expand existing… Read More

By Jenna Somers Autumn Kujawa Children of parents with depression are two to three times more likely to develop anxiety and depressive disorders than children whose parents never experience depression, and some evidence indicates that these effects are particularly pronounced for maternal depression. That’s according to researchers at Pennsylvania… Read More

By Jenna Somers Earlier this year, researchers at Vanderbilt University and William & Mary published an experimental study that found that students admitted to quality public-private partnership schools in Bogotá, Colombia, known as Schools in Administration, scored higher in cognitive and social-emotional skills than students of similar socio-economic… Read More

The Nashville Partnership for Educational Equity Research is a collaboration between Metro Nashville Public Schools and Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development. To improve equity across MNPS, PEER brings together researchers and practitioners to collaborate in long-term working groups and short-term rapid response teams. Watch… Read More

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

By Jenna Somers Joseph Lambert Children with autism are more likely than their typically developing peers to engage in challenging behavior, which can lead to injury, lower rates of social inclusion, and adverse effects on learning. To support these children, special education professionals in schools need training on functional analysis… Read More

By Jenna Somers Brenda McKenzie As college student demographics rapidly evolve, higher education and student affairs (HESA) graduate programs must adapt to ensure future professionals are equipped to support today’s diverse students. That is according to Brenda McKenzie, associate professor of the practice of higher education administration, and Anna… Read More

By Jenna Somers Andrew Nalani, assistant professor of human and organizational development (submitted photo) New research by Andrew Nalani, a faculty member at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development, examines the viewpoints of youth care workers in juvenile residential facilities and their desires for fostering… Read More

By Jenna Somers Kathryn Humphreys During pregnancy, the body undergoes dramatic physical changes. However, how brain structure and function change is not well understood. A new study aims to shed light on these changes and their potential effects on mental health throughout the peripartum period, the time during pregnancy… Read More

LIVE, the Learning Innovation Incubator at Vanderbilt University, and Metro Nashville Public Schools are partnering to create human-centered, AI-empowered student advising experiences. This effort builds on Vanderbilt Peabody College and MNPS’s ongoing collaboration via the Nashville Partnership for Educational Equity Research (PEER) to promote postsecondary readiness through increased… Read More