Peabody College

Young children born with cleft lip or palate are sought to participate in a groundbreaking intervention study to help improve their language and speech. The study, launched by Vanderbilt University and East Tennessee State University in January 2010, has already been found to have a positive impact on addressing speech disorders in these children. Read More

Student achievement improved and teacher turnover declined in schools participating in the Texas state-funded District Awards for Teacher Excellence (D.A.T.E.) program, the National Center on Performance Incentives at Vanderbilt University has found. “Our findings suggest that, more often than not, participants in the D.A.T.E. program had a positive experience and… Read More

Vanderbilt University’s Center for Evaluation and Program Improvement and the Indiana University Center for Adolescent and Family Studies have won a $3.8 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to study methods to improve mental health services. The five-year project will examine how to improve mental health services… Read More

Do videos targeted to babies really teach? New Vanderbilt research gives a clear answer. Plus, a Supreme Court justice comes to campus and why one ‘Dore is playing for the New York Times. [vucastblurb]… Read More

Jeremy Kane’s emergence as a key figure in Nashville’s charter schools movement may well have taken root in seventh grade. That was the year he transferred from a Metro Nashville public school to Montgomery Bell Academy, a private college preparatory school. Read More

If one travels north on 20th Avenue South in Nashville, the dome on the Wyatt Center—known to many alumni as the Social-Religious Building—comes into view. The building sits on the crest of a hill, so it should not be a surprise as it suddenly pops up amid the trees… Read More

Fizzy’s Lunch Lab—an interactive Web series with cartoon characters acting out funny stories to emphasize the importance of good nutrition, a balanced diet and physical activity—was nominated for a Daytime Entertainment Emmy Award. And there’s a Peabody connection. Sharon Shields, professor of the practice of human and organizational development; Heather… Read More

Jessica Lewis and her family are Vanderbilt through and through. She and her husband, Hi Lewis, BA’99, MEd’01, received their undergraduate and graduate degrees at Vanderbilt. Their two children were born at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and attend the Vanderbilt Child Care Center. Read More

Paul Dokecki was born and raised in Brooklyn and came to Nashville in 1962, 10 days after his wedding to his wife, Katherine, to start a doctoral program in clinical psychology at Peabody. “The culture shock was significant at about every level,” he says. Read More

This academic year is an exciting one for all those associated with Peabody College, as 2010-2011 marks our 225th anniversary. Read More

Two hundred and twenty-five years is a long time for an institution to survive. Founded as Davidson Academy in 1785, what is now Vanderbilt’s Peabody College initially existed under various names—Cumberland College, University of Nashville, State Normal College of Tennessee, Peabody Normal College. During those years, Peabody’s primary innovation was its continued existence in a region not always responsive to higher education. Read More

New research based on preliminary data in a pilot study has found no significant difference in achievement gains on standardized math tests between students in charter schools and those in traditional public schools. The findings have spurred the collection of additional data for continued analysis. Ellen Goldring, Patricia and… Read More

Richard Dreyfuss (right) discussed the importance of civics education at an event moderated by John Siegen-thaler (left) at the Tennessee governor’s residence on Oct. 12. On Tuesday, October 12, Peabody and Owen Graduate School of Management joined with Tennessee’s First Lady, Andrea Conte, to welcome actor and education activist Richard… Read More

Identifying and developing a process for transferring key elements that make some high schools in large urban districts more effective at improving outcomes for low-income and minority students as well as English language learners is the focus of a new national center at Peabody. Read More

Improving math instruction for elementary and middle school children experiencing problems with fractions is the focus of a $10 million grant from the Institute of Education Sciences, a research branch of the U.S. Department of Education. Among the collaborators in the new Center on Improving Mathematics Instruction for Students with… Read More

Illustration by Elizabeth Rosen Visit Peabody College’s Web site at http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/ Bonnie Arant Ertelt, Editor Donna Pritchett, Art Director Michael Smeltzer, Designer Nelson Bryan, Class Notes Editor Contributors: Kurt Brobeck, Sue Erickson, Kara Furlong, Stacy Gardner, Jennifer Johnston, Camilla Meek, Melanie Moran, Jan Read, Rob Simbeck, Cindy Thomsen, Tom… Read More

Elizabeth Shapiro Silverman’s family ties to Vanderbilt run deep. Her father, Dr. John Shapiro, BA’38, MD’41, grew up near campus on Acklen Avenue, attended Vanderbilt as an undergraduate and medical school student, and later became a renowned pathologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Read More

Our 2009-2010 donor roll recognizes our donors, reflecting gifts made to Peabody College between July 1, 2009, and June 30, 2010. Read More

What Every 2nd Grade Teacher Needs to Know: About Setting Up and Running a Classroom (Northeast Foundation for Children, Inc., 2010) by Margaret Berry Wilson, MEd’93 and Andy Dousis. Wilson starts with a concise review of second graders’ common developmental characteristics and then shows how to adjust your classroom and… Read More

Jesse Register, director of schools for Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, during a March visit to South China Normal University. In January, a group of Chinese educators journeys to Nashville for a two-week visit that mirrors that of the Nashville group in the summer. In the movie Dead Poets Society, Mr. Read More