Ideas In Action

  • Vanderbilt University

    Instructional preference may boost children’s learning

    When children have a choice of how they interact with educators, they may learn more efficiently. Read More

    Mar 28, 2016

  • Vanderbilt University

    The proof is in the pizza

    Graduate students devise a unique study to teach an aspiring pizza chef with autism to follow recipes. Read More

    Mar 28, 2016

  • Vanderbilt University

    Can pre-K be fixed?

    New analysis of Tennessee's state-funded pre-K is prompting reevaluation and change. Read More

    Feb 1, 2016

  • Vanderbilt University

    A healthy corridor grows in Nashville

    Action research by Peabody College students helps Nashville developers and neighborhoods envision a healthier future.       Read More

    Feb 1, 2016

  • Vanderbilt University

    Seeking the human element, Fulbright Scholar Carol Eid finds her niche

    When Fulbright Scholar and former computer programmer Carol Eid decided to change her life, she chose Peabody as the best avenue for studying learning design.   Read More

    Jan 29, 2016

  • Vanderbilt University

    Peabody education faculty named among top influencers

    Nine Vanderbilt faculty members were selected for inclusion in the 2016 Edu-Scholar Public Presence Rankings, released Jan. 6. Eight of the nine Vanderbilt academics have been on the list in previous years. Read More

    Jan 6, 2016

  • Vanderbilt University

    ‘Sticky mittens’ offer clues to infant development

    Early motor training in infants may result in positive long-term effects in other areas of development, according to a collaborative study by researchers at Vanderbilt University, the University of Pittsburgh and Seton Hall University.   Read More

    Jan 6, 2016

  • Vanderbilt University

    Peabody professor urges attracting and retaining gifted students from different cultures

    Black and Hispanic students make up an increasing percentage of U.S. school children. Yet in virtually every school district, they are underrepresented in gifted classes and programs, often because they are not identified as gifted. Those who do enter such programs often fail to complete them.   Read More

    Mar 20, 2014

  • Vanderbilt University

    Top-rated IRIS Center provides trusted resources for educators

    In January, a panel of independent reviewers evaluated the quality, relevance and usefulness of the products of 14 of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs’ (OSEP) national centers funded in 2006–2007. The IRIS Center for Training Enhancements (IRIS II) ranked second, missing the top spot by only .08 points. Read More

    Mar 20, 2014

  • Vanderbilt University

    Combining language richness with teacher professional development could close achievement gap

    A new approach to teaching pre-kindergarten could take a bite out of the achievement gap and level the playing field for America’s growing population of English language learners, according to a published study by researchers at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of education and human development. Read More

    Nov 25, 2013

  • Vanderbilt University

    Pre-K promise, new research on early learning

    Positive interactions in a pre-kindergarten classroom may be equally or more important to the future academic development of 4-year-olds than learning letters and numbers, according to Dale Farran, senior associate director of the Peabody Research Institute at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College. Read More

    Nov 25, 2013

  • Wyatt Center

    Language intervention grants target children with autism

    Peabody professors Paul Yoder and Ann Kaiser are recipients of new grants from the National Institutes of Health Autism Centers of Excellence (ACE). Yoder and Kaiser of Vanderbilt have received ACE grants to study language interventions for young children. “Early intervention with autism is one of the big success stories,”… Read More

    Nov 25, 2013

  • Fall 2013 Texts

    Fall 2013 Texts

      Homeschooling in America: Capturing and Assessing the Movement; Joseph Murphy; Corwin, 2012 More than 2 million children in the United States are now homeschooled, up from only 15,000 40 years ago, but little research has been done on the academic and social outcomes of this student population. In… Read More

    Nov 25, 2013

  • Vanderbilt University

    Most math being taught in kindergarten is old news to students

    Kindergarten teachers report spending much of their math instructional time teaching students basic counting skills and how to recognize geometric shapes—skills the students have already mastered before setting foot in the kindergarten classroom, new research finds. Read More

    Nov 22, 2013

  • Laurie Cutting

    Not all reading disabilities are dyslexia

    A common reading disorder goes undiagnosed until it becomes problematic, according to the results of five years of study by researchers at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College in collaboration with the Kennedy Krieger Institute/Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Results of the study were recently published online by the National Institutes of Health. Read More

    Nov 22, 2013

  • Early spatial reasoning predicts later creativity and innovation, especially in STEM fields

    Early spatial reasoning predicts later creativity and innovation, especially in STEM fields

    Exceptional spatial ability at age 13 predicts creative and scholarly achievements more than 30 years later, according to results from a Vanderbilt University longitudinal study, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. Read More

    Nov 22, 2013

  • Team incentives alone do not boost student performance

    Team incentives alone do not boost student performance

    Matthew Springer In recent years, policymakers concerned with how to compensate teachers have increasingly sought to tie teacher pay to student outcomes. Market-minded education reformers have also begun to experiment by offering incentives to teachers who demonstrably add value to students’ education. But how effective are such programs? Does altering… Read More

    Nov 22, 2013

  • Faculty Notes and Honors

    Faculty Notes and Honors

    Sun-Joo Cho Leonard Bickman was named professor of psychology, emeritus. Vera A. Stevens Chatman was named professor of human and organizational development, emerita. Chatman will also be inducted into the Academy for Women of Achievement by the YWCA of Nashville and Middle Tennessee and First Tennessee. Sun-Joo Cho, assistant professor… Read More

    Nov 22, 2013

  • Vanderbilt University

    Peabody professor receives AERA Outstanding Book Award

    The American Educational Research Association (AERA) presented its 2013 Outstanding Book Award to Vanderbilt University professor Christopher Loss for Between Citizens and the State: The Politics of American Higher Education in the 20th Century (Princeton University Press, 2012) in April. Loss’s book tracks the dramatic results of the federal government’s… Read More

    Nov 22, 2013

  • Ford wins SEC Faculty Achievement Award

    Ford wins SEC Faculty Achievement Award

    Donna Ford Donna Ford, professor of special education, is one of 14 university professors recognized by the Southeastern Conference for achievement in research and scholarship. The SEC announced April 10 the winners of its 2013 Faculty Achievement Awards. These annual awards honor professors from the SEC’s 14 member universities who… Read More

    Nov 22, 2013