DATA/REPORTS
ACADEMIC/RESEARCH EXPERTS
ADVOCACY/NONPROFIT EXPERTS
FEDERAL/STATE EXPERTS
DATA/REPORTS
Kids Count Data
Annie E. Casey Foundation
http://www.kidscount.org/datacenter
The nonprofit foundation's Kids Count Data Center is an outgrowth of the child well-being report released by the foundation each summer. It contains national, state- and city-level data for over 100 measures of child well-being, including health.
Child Well-Being Index
Foundation for Child Development
http://www.fcd-us.org/initiatives/initiatives_show.htm?
The FCD Index of Child Well-Being (CWI) is a composite measure that makes it possible to analyze national trends in overall child well-being over time. The CWI is based on 28 indicators in seven key areas of well-being beginning in 1975.
Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics
http://childstats.gov
A collaboration of federal agencies and departments, the forum fosters coordination in collecting and reporting federal statistics on education, family and social environment, economic circumstances, health and health care, behavior, physical environment and safety. It releases the "America's Children" report each July. For federal statistics on a range of issues, see www.fedstats.gov
"Mathematics Education for Young Children," 2008
Society for Research in Child Development
http://www.srcd.org/documents/publications/spr/22-1_ear
Effective math education for 3- to 5-year-olds holds great promise for improving later achievement. This paper examines children's capacity for learning, the need for both concrete and abstract content, and educators' readiness to teach. It recommends improving and supporting both pre-service and in-service teacher training.
Child Care & Early Education Research Connections
Columbia University, University of Michigan, Child Care Bureau
http://www.childcareresearch.org/discover/index.jsp
The project offers comprehensive research and data resources on children’s early education experiences through age 8 and, in terms of child care, through age 13. It includes scholarly research, policy briefs, government reports and interactive tools that allow users to compare state demographics. It's a partnership of the federal Child Care Bureau, Columbia University's National Center for Children in Poverty, and the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, based at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research.
The institute is a nonprofit policy research organization that investigates social and economic problems. Adams directs research on the policies and programs that affect the affordability, quality and supply of child care and early education.
Pat Ainsworth
Communications Director
National Institute for Early Education Research
Address:
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
120 Albany St., Suite 500
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Phone:
732.932.4350, Ext. 229
E-mail:
painsworth@nieer.org
Web:
http://nieer.org/...
Based at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., it provides policy makers, journalists, researchers and educators with nonpartisan research-based information on early childhood education. It collects, archives and commissions new research on early childhood education.
Ali is the founding executive director of the Education Trust-West, the West Coast partner of the national policy and advocacy organization. Education Trust works for the high academic achievement of all students at all levels, with an emphasis on serving Latino, African American, Native American and low-income students.
Allen-Meares' research interests include the tasks and functions of social workers employed in educational settings; psychopathology in children, adolescents, and families; adolescent sexuality; premature parenthood; and various aspects of social work practice.
Morris Ardoin
Director of Communications and Public Affairs
Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
National Center for Children in Poverty
Address:
215 W. 125th St., 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10027
Phone:
646.284.9616
E-mail:
ardoin@nccp.org
Web:
www.nccp.org...
A division of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, the nonpartisan research organization promotes the economic security, health and well-being of America’s low-income families and children. It pushes family-oriented solutions at the state and national levels, producing reports and fact sheets that highlight strategies to end child poverty. The site has a basic-needs budget calculator, plus demographics and policy tools to create custom tables of national- and state-level statistics about low-income or poor children. In October, it published two reports: “Who Are America’s Poor Children” and “Basic Facts About Low-Income Children.” Founded in 1989 at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, the nonprofit research center promotes the economic security, health and well-being of America’s low-income families and children. It pushes family-oriented solutions at the state and national levels, producing reports and fact sheets that highlight strategies to end child poverty. (See its fact sheet, “Basic Facts About Low-Income Children in the United States,”
http://www.nccp.org/topics/childpoverty.html)
The Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center is one of the nation's oldest multidisciplinary centers for the study of young children and their families. Most of the institute’s work addresses young children ages birth to 8 years. They have a special focus on children who experience biological or environmental factors that challenge early development and learning.
Beaulieu is an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, White Earth Reservation, and has been director of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Indian Education since 1997.
Besharov is a professor in UMD's School of Public Policy and a senior scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. He's also a lawyer. Besharov runs UMD's Welfare Academy, which helps state and local officials, private social service providers and others reshape programs in keeping with the 1996 welfare reform law. It has provided training in program design, implementation and evaluation for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Medicaid, food stamps, job training, child care and more. Besharov served as founding director of the U.S. National Center on Child Abuse from 1975 to 1979. He's the author of "Recognizing Child Abuse: A Guide for the Concerned" and 14 other books, including "The Vulnerable Social Worker: Liability for Serving Children and Families."
The Gender and Racial Atittudies Lab conducts research on children’s intergroup attitudes, including social stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination. Its areas of study include the consequences of gender and racial attitudes for children’s development, how children’s intergroup attitudes affect conceptions of the self, factors that contribute to the formation of intergroup attitudes (e.g., stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination), and mechanisms of gender and racial attitude change.
Sandra J. Bishop-Josef Ph.D.
Assistant Director
Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy
Yale Univeristy
Address:
310 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Phone:
203.432.9935
E-mail:
sandra.bishop@yale.edu
Web:
www.yale.edu/bushcenter...
The center brings research-based knowledge of child development to the federal and state policy arenas in an effort to improve social policy affecting the lives of children and families in the United States.
Bruce Black M.D.
Director
Dr. Black's expertise is in psychopharmacology, mood and anxiety Disorders, and Attention Deficit Disorder. In the early 90's, Dr. Black did one of the first studies of Prozac for selective mutism, when he was a researcher at the National Institutes of Mental Health.
Margaret Bridges
Research Director
Child Development
UC Berkeley
Address:
2140 Shattuck #705
Berkeley, CA 94720
Phone:
510.642.9163
E-mail:
mbridges@berkeley.edu
Bridges is the director of Child Development Projects at PACE. She is the author of a study by UC Berkeley and Stanford researchers who found that middle-class children -- not just kids from the poorest families -- receive a boost in language and math skills from preschool. The findings are found in: "How much is too much? The Influence of Preschool Centers on Children's Development Nationwide"
Capps researches welfare and immigration policy. Formerly an analyst at the Urban Institute, his recent report, “The Health and Well-Being of Young Children of Immigrants,” centered on the 5.1 million children of immigrants under age 6 in the U.S. and their access to TANF, food stamps, center-based child care and schooling. Other areas of study include illegal immigration, the application and eligibility determination process for immigrants, and the role of immigrants in the No Child Left Behind Act.
Cards' research focuses on economics, education and immigration, such as labor market competition between immigrants and natives and inequalities between the earnings of blacks and whites. Card has published widely on issues regarding welfare reform; the effects of Medicaid programs; pension and retirement; labor supply; school financing and the distribution of education resources; wage structure; unions and strikes; and unemployment.
Created by the National Academies in 1993, the nonpartisan board addresses policy-relevant issues involving the health and development of children, youth and families and convenes experts to analyze and evaluate research.
Kathy Christie
Vice President
Information Management & ECS Clearinghouse
Education Commission of the States
Address:
700 Broadway, #1200
Denver, CO 80203
Phone:
303.299.3613
E-mail:
kchristie@ecs.org
Web:
http://www.ecs.org...
ECS keeps policymakers informed by gathering, analyzing and disseminating information about current and emerging issues, trends and innovations in state education policy. Christie serves as vice president for Knowledge Management & ECS Clearinghouse, where staff collect and analyze research, track state and district reforms and analyze the various reforms in the states.
Cowan's work focuses on conducting studies and systematically evaluating interventions designed to better understand how parents’ and children’s well-being and distress can be understood and addressed in a family systems framework. Cowan is co-director of two ongoing intervention studies of families making major family transitions - the Becoming a Family Project, with couples making the transition to first-time parenthood, and the Schoolchildren and Their Families Project, with couples whose first child is making the transition to elementary school.
Diamond has studied the development of children's attitudes towards children with disabilities. Her current research focuses on relations between preschool children's cognitive development and their ideas about including peers with disabilities in play activities.
Dodge, the William McDougall Professor of Public Policy Studies, directs the center, which aims to solve problems facing children by bringing together policy makers, practitioners and scholars from many disciplines. It's addressing issues of early childhood adversity, education policy reform and youth violence and problem behaviors. Dodge was a principal investigator on the Fast Track project, a federally funded longitudinal study of youth from age 8 to young adulthood to identify early risk factors for adolescent disorders, particularly involvement in violence and antisocial behavior. His other interests include education policy, child maltreatment and the science of child and adolescent development.
The professional organization of education reporters has more than 1,000 members nationally. Its resource center provides summaries and links on education topics from preschool to higher education.
Scott Emerick
Communications Associate
Center for Teaching Quality
A research-based advocacy organization launched in 1999, the center focuses on the conditions of teaching, leadership and skill improvement opportunities for teachers and student achievement issues. Its Web site provides extensive reports and presentations on education reform. It publishes a free, electronic newsletter, Teaching Quality: Best Practices & Policies.
Fuller co-authored a new study by UC Berkeley and Stanford researchers that found that middle-class children -- not just kids from the poorest families -- receive a boost in language and math skills from preschool. The study is called: "How much is too much? The Influence of Preschool Centers on Children's Development Nationwide"
Gallagher designs and evaluates parent education programs. Gallagher is the leader of the Special Interest Group in Child and School-Related Issues of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy. He also served as Co-Investigator on a treatment development grant from the National Institute of Mental Health for an organizational skills intervention for ADD/ADHD children and continues to investigate the neuropsychological profile of childhood ADHD.
Garbarino researches depression in children, child abuse, psychological maltreatment, community dimensions of child maltreatment and violence prevention.
Gilliam’s major areas of interest are: early childhood development and assessment; preschool mental health consultation; preschool and early intervention effectiveness research; and child social policy. The mission of the Child Study Center is to understand children's mental health problems and prevent or alleviate the symptoms of patients who suffer from them.
Michael Griffith
Policy Analyst
Information Management & ECS Clearinghouse
Education Commission of the States
Address:
700 Broadway, #1200
Denver, CO 80203
Phone:
303.299.3625
E-mail:
mgriffith@ecs.org
Web:
http://www.ecs.org...
ECS keeps policymakers informed by gathering, analyzing and disseminating information about current and emerging issues, trends and innovations in state education policy. Griffith is a policy analyst specializing in school finance. He provides technical assistance to policymakers on several key finance issues, including: adequacy, financing at-risk student populations, equity, special education financing, state budget/tax issues and pay-for-performance.
Guthrie’s research concentrates on educational policy issues and resource allocation consequences. More specifically, he is concerned with school finance, both K-12 and higher education, legal issues of equity and adequacy, international education school finance systems, education reform strategies, educational accountability, political processes and education, and theories of education reform.
Hertz's areas of interests include poverty, minimum wage, race and gender-based wage differentials and wealth gaps, and the process of intergenerational transmission of economic status. His 2006 report, “Understanding Mobility in America,” studied inequalities in the economic mobility of black and white families. The report found that education, race, health and state of residence are four key channels by which economic status is transmitted from parent to child.
Frederick Hess
Director of Education Policy Studies
American Enterprise Institute
Address:
1150 Seventeenth St. NW
Washington, DC 20036
Phone:
202.828.6031
E-mail:
Rhess@aei.org
Web:
http://www.aei.org/...
AEI is a private, conservative-leaning nonprofit institution dedicated to research and education on issues of government, politics, economics and social welfare. Frederick Hess directs its education policy studies. The resident scholar specializes in issues such as No Child Left Behind, school choice, education politics and accountability.
Brian Jacob
Assistant Professor
Public Policy
Jacob's current research focuses on urban school reform with a particular emphasis on standards and accountability initiatives. He has examined the effect of school choice and high-stakes testing on student achievement, the incidence of teacher cheating within educational accountabiltiy systems, the relationship between school and juvenile delinquency, and the impact of public housing demolitions on educational opportunities for children.
Richard D. Kahlenberg is a Senior Fellow at The Century Foundation, where he writes about education, equal opportunity, and civil rights. Previously, Kahlenberg was a Fellow at the Center for National Policy, a visiting associate professor of constitutional law at George Washington University, and a legislative assistant to Senator Charles S. Robb (D-VA). He is the author of three books: "All Together Now: Creating Middle Class Schools through Public School Choice" (Brookings Institution Press, 2001). The book, labeled “a clarion call for the socioeconomic desegregation of U.S. public schools” by Harvard Educational Review, was said by the Washington Post to make “a substantial contribution to a national conversation” on education. The Remedy: Class, Race, and Affirmative Action (Basic Books, 1996). The book was named one of the best of the year by the Washington Post and William Julius Wilson’s review in the New York Times called it “by far the most comprehensive and thoughtful argument thus far for...affirmative action based on class.” Broken Contract: A Memoir of Harvard Law School (Hill & Wang/Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1992). The book, which details the way in which idealistic liberal law students are turned to corporate law, was called “a forceful cri de coeur” by the L.A. Times.
Karoly's research has focused on early childhood investments, social welfare policy and U.S. labor markets. She has investigated the costs and benefits of early childhood intervention programs. And other recent research includes: the impact of welfare reform on child and family well-being, and the implications of demographic trends, technological change and globalization for the future U.S. workforce and workplace.
Kellam promotes Brookings, a think tank supporting a wide scope of research. Its Center on Children and Families examines policies affecting the well-being of U.S. children and their parents, especially children in less advantaged families. Directed by Ron Haskins and Isabel Sawhill, it co-publishes the twice-yearly journal Future of Children.
Jane Knitzer
Director
National Center for Children in Poverty
Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University
Address:
215 W. 125th St., Third Floor
New York, NY 10027
Phone:
646.284.9600
E-mail:
knitzer@nccp.org
Web:
http://www.nccp.org...
A psychologist, Knitzer has spent her career in policy research and analysis of issues affecting children and families, including mental health, child welfare and education policy. She is dedicated to the study of how public policies can improve outcomes of low-income children and better support families, particularly those who are most vulnerable. She wrote a landmark 1982 report on children’s mental health, "Unclaimed Children: The Failure of Public Responsibility to Children and Adolescents in Need of Mental Health Services." Knitzer serves on the New York State Permanent Judicial Commission on Justice for Children and the board of Family Support America. Among her many awards, she received the first Nicolas Hobbs Award for Distinguished Service in the Cause of Child Advocacy from the American Psychological Association.
Knox brings 20 years’ experience to the study and evaluation of social programs, with special expertise in how supports for low-income workers — particularly child support and financial incentives — affect families and children. She currently directs the Supporting Healthy Marriage project, a federally funded evaluation of interventions aimed at improving child well-being by strengthening the relationships of married couples. She also oversees the Next Generation project, a multidisciplinary initiative to study welfare reform programs' impacts on the well-being of children and families. Knox has direct knowledge of welfare systems, having been special assistant to the executive deputy commissioner for income maintenance in New York City’s Human Resources Administration, where her responsibilities included estimating the cost of welfare reform programs. The author of numerous reports and papers, Knox has a doctorate in public policy from Harvard University.
David Lawrence Jr. is known nationally as a leader in journalism and early education issues. He is president of the Early Childhood Initiative Foundation and University Scholar for Early Childhood Development and Readiness at the University of Florida. His first career in journalism spanned 35 years as a publisher, editor, and reporter. During his tenure as Miami Herald publisher, the paper won five Pulitzer Prizes. He was publisher and executive editor of the Detroit Free Press, and was editor of the Charlotte Observer. A tireless advocate for early childhood initiatives, he led the innovative 2002 campaign for The Children’s Trust in Miami-Dade, dedicated to early childhood intervention and prevention. He has served on the Florida Partnership for School Readiness and the Florida Governor’s Commission on Education, and is a noted speaker on early education issues. The David Lawrence Jr. K-8 Public School opened in 2006 in Miami, Florida. A fully endowed chair in early childhood studies is established in his name at the University of Florida College of Education. His journalism honors include the John S. Knight Gold Medal, the National Association of Black Journalists’ Ida B. Wells Award and the National Association of Minority Media Executives award for "lifetime achievement in diversity.” The Miami-based foundation aims to improve early care parenting and education. Its site provides information on disabilities, sexual abuse, adoption, trends and community resources. Its president is David Lawrence Jr., former publisher of The Miami Herald (Lawrence also serves on the Journalism Center on Children & Families' board.) Lawrence retired in 1999 as chairman and publisher of The Miami Herald to work fulltime in the area of early childhood development and readiness. He worked for 35 years as reporter, editor and publisher at seven newspapers, most recently at the Detroit Free Press.
Joan Lombardi
Director
Georgetown University Public Policy Institute
Address:
5006 50th Place, N.W.
Washington, DC 20016
Phone:
202.364.5162
E-mail:
jl443@georgetown.edu
Lombardi is research professor at Georgetown University's Public Policy Institue and was the founding chair of the Birth to Five policy alliance. She was director of The Children’s Project, a nonpartisan initiative to increase public, private and civic investment in children and families. Previously she served as deputy assistant secretary for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and as the first associate commissioner of the Child Care Bureau. In that position, she administered the nation’s largest child care program, The Child Care and Development Fund, and was instrumental in planning the White House Conference on Child Care and the president’s 1998 child care initiative. She also directed the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion, was the primary author of "Creating a 21st Century Head Start," and helped establish the Early Head Start Program and the Head Start Fellows Program. She is the co-author or co-editor of a number of publications and is completing a book on redesigning child care as an educational opportunity. Lombardi was named by Working Mother Magazine as one of the nation’s most influential working mothers.
Cyra Master
Communications Coordinator
Center for Law and Social Policy
Address:
1015 15th St. NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20005
Phone:
202.906.8027
E-mail:
cmaster@clasp.org
Web:
www.clasp.org...
The national nonprofit conducts research and policy analysis to improve low-income people’s economic security, educational and workforce prospects. Specifically, it aims to: increase adults’ access to quality education, training and transitional jobs; create universal opportunities for early childhood education; improve access to supports such as child care, food stamps, Medicaid and cash assistance; help young people avoid risky behavior; and help more kids grow up with two involved parents.
Maushard is the public relations officer at the Center for Social Organization of Schools, an educational research and development center at Johns Hopkins University. The Center maintains a staff of sociologists, psychologists, social psychologists and educators who conduct programmatic research to improve the education system.
Barbara Medina Ph.D.
Director, English Language Acquisition Unit
ELAU
Colorado Department of Education
Address:
201 E. Colfax Ave Rm40
Denver, CO 80203
Phone:
303.866.6758
E-mail:
medina_b@cde.state.co.us
Medina is the director of the Colorado Department of Education’s English Language Acquisition Unit. The ELAU aims to provide linguistic, social and academic support for all migrant, immigrant and refugee English language learners. It encompasses programs – such as the federal Title I and Title III, as well as state efforts – for nearly 100,000 pre-K-12 students in the state’s public schools.
Sam Odom
Director
Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG)
Address:
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
CB#8180
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-818
Phone:
919.966.2622
E-mail:
slodom@mail.fpg.unc.edu
Web:
http://www.fpg.unc.edu/...
FPG consists of more than 200 researchers, students and staff working on projects dealing with parent and family support; early care and education; child health and development; early identification and intervention; equity, access and inclusion; and early childhood policy. They publish “Snapshots,” which provides an overview of recently published research (
http://www.fpg.unc.edu/news/fpg_snapshots.cfm). FPG distributes a monthly e-newsletter that highlights their latest research and resources (
http://www.fpg.unc.edu/news/enews.cfm).
Mathematica conducts public policy research and surveys on health care, education, welfare, employment, nutrition, child development, and other policy issues. The Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) is an affiliate research organization that designs and conducts studies focused on the U.S. health care system.
Deborah Phillips Ph.D.
Co-Directorhttp
Center for Research on Children in the United States
Georgetown University
Address:
3520 Prospect St. NW
4th Floor
Washington, DC 20007
Phone:
2202.687.4042
E-mail:
dap4@georgetown.edu
Web:
h://www.crocus.georgetown.edu/...
CROCUS promotes interdisciplinary research on children and public policy. Phillips was co-editor of the "Neurons to Neighborhoods" report, and is an expert on the developmental effects of child care. She is professor and chair of psychology at Georgetown University and co-director of the Georgetown University Program in Children and Public Policy. Prior to this she was the first executive director of the Board on Children, Youth and Families of the National Research Council's Commission on Social and Behavioral Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. She also served as study director for the Board’s report on early childhood development: From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Child Development, released in October 2000. As a Congressional Science Fellow of the Society for Research in Child Development, Phillips served as an analyst at the Congressional Budget Office and on the personal staff of Rep. George Miller, D-Calif. She was also a mid-career fellow at Yale University's Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy, and the first director of the Child Care Information Service of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. She serves on numerous task forces and advisory groups including the Task Force on Meeting the Needs of Young Children of the Carnegie Corporation of New York; the research task force of the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and the Brookings Institution’s Roundtable on Children. She has testified numerous times before the U.S. Congress and the White House on issues of child care quality and continues research, most recently as an investigator with the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Study of Early Child Care. Phillips received her Ph.D. in developmental psychology at Yale University.
Reville heads the Rennie Center, an independent policy and research organization aiming to improve pre K-12 public education, especially in Massachusetts. In September 2007, he was named co-chair of the new National Center on Time & Learning, which promotes an extended school day and school year to ensure a rigorous, well-rounded education. Reville is chairman of the Massachusetts state board of education and also directs the Education Policy and Management Program. He lectures on educational policy and politics at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Earlier, Reville was was executive director of the Pew Forum on Standards-Based Reform, a Harvard-based, national education policy "think tank." Reville was the founding executive director of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education, which helped develop the Education Reform Act of 1993.
Reynolds studies the effects of early childhood intervention on youngsters' development from school entry to early adulthood. He also investigates the family and school influences on children's educational success. Reynolds directs the Chicago Longitudinal Study, one of the largest and most extensive studies of the effects of early childhood intervention. Reynolds' project team also is documenting the determinants of child maltreatment, delinquency and crime, educational attainment and economic well-being.
Sawhill is vice president and director of the Economic Studies program at the Brookings Institution and a senior editor of The Future of Children. She co-directs the Welfare Reform and Beyond Initiative at Brookings and serves part-time as president of The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. Her research focuses on children, education, the federal budget, poverty and inequality, social welfare policy and teen pregnancy.
Dr. Shipon-Blum is a clinical assistant professor of psychology & family medicine at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. She also is a board certified family physician who specializes in Selective Mutism. Dr. Shipon-Blum has developed Social Communication Anxiety Treatment (SCAT) from her years studying & researching individuals with Selective Mutism.
The council, housed at The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, is a multidisciplinary collaboration designed to institutionalize and extend the work that culminated in “From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development” (National Academy Press, 2000). It disseminates research findings on early childhood development to the media, the public and policymakers. With the publication of a landmark report from the National Research Council (NRC) and Institute of Medicine (IOM) in late 2000 entitled "From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development," (co-edited by Shonkoff)the opportunity arose to reinvigorate and reframe the public dialogue in order to close the gap between what scientists know and what society does to advance the health and development of young children. This includes improving and extending child care and early education programs. The council is a multi-disciplinary collaboration designed to institutionalize and extend the work behind that report.
Slavin researches the education of students at risk. He has authored or co-authored books, including Educational Psychology: Theory into Practice (Allyn & Bacon, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1994, 1997), School and Classroom Organization (Erlbaum, 1989), Effective Programs for Students at Risk (Allyn & Bacon, 1989), Cooperative Learning: Theory, Research, and Practice (Allyn & Bacon, 1990, 1995), Preventing Early School Failure (Allyn & Bacon, 1994), Every Child, Every School: Success for All (Corwin, 1996), and Show Me the Evidence: Proven and Promising Programs for America’s Schools (Corwin, 1998).
Solomon is an expert in public playgrounds. She is the author of "American Playgrounds: Revitalizing Community Space" (University Press of New England, 1995), which examines problems with contemporary playgrounds, suggests improvements and addresses undervalued public space. She also explores American attitudes on safety and how that impacts play and places for public assembly. Trained as an art historian with a concentration on 20th-century architecture, she heads her own research firm, Curatorial Resources and Research, in Princeton, N.J.
Stringfield has studied the ways in which poor children are already at a disadvantage educationally from lack of social and educational resources. He studies systemic educational reform and is a co-editor of the Journal of Education for Students Placed At Risk.
John Thomasian
Center Director
The Center for Best Practices, National Governors Association
Phone:
202.624.5300
E-mail:
webmaster@nga.org
Web:
www.nga.org
Basically a consulting firm for governors, the Washington-based center has five divisions: education, environment, health, homeland security and workforce programs. Its education division provides information on best practices in early childhood, elementary, secondary and postsecondary education. Its weekly electronic magazine, Front and Center, covers trends, policies and issues affecting states.
Expertise: Parent involvement: Mexican-origin Immigrant Students. He does ongoing research with immigrant/migrant families and is author of "Against All Odds: Lesson from Parents of Migrant High Achievers," "Field of Hope: Educating Migrant Children for the Future."
National School Safety and Security Services is a consulting firm specializing in school security and school emergency / crisis preparedness training, school security assessments, and school safety consulting for K-12 schools and public safety providers. Trump focuses on K-12 school security and school emergency / crisis preparedness issues, school security assessments, and school safety consulting services.
Weiss is the founder of the Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) and a senior research associate and lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. HFRP's mission is to help create more effective practices, interventions, and policies to support children's successful development from birth to adulthood. Weiss conducts, synthesizes, and disseminates research, and develops tools that encourage professional and organizational learning, support evaluation, continuous improvement and accountability, and that spark innovation.
Through advocacy, research and analysis, the Education Trust promotes academic achievement -- especially among minority and low-income students. Wiener directs the policy team, where he uses data, research and examples from the field to determine what can be done to close achievement gaps. His focuses include vocational and technical education, graduation rates, higher education, low-income students, minority students and teacher quality. Weiner also has experience in federal civil rights laws in schools, including cases involving desegregation, disability rights, harassment and services for limited-English proficient students.
Zigler is a Sterling Professor of Psychology. His areas of interest include: Social policy, child development, preschool education and daycare. As former director of the Office of Child Development, Zigler was responsible for administering the Head Start Program and was instrumental in establishing innovative programs such as Health Start, Home Start, Education for Parenthood and the Child and Family Resource Program. The goal of the center is to bring research-based knowledge of child development to federal and state policy arenas. The Head Start Research Unit conducts research and policy analysis related to Head Start and other early childhood programs.
Established in 1948, the Southern Early Childhood Association is a regional association for more than 18,000 individuals working in every aspect of child care and early childhood. The group follow public policy debate and legislation on early childhood issues, both nationally and in 14 Southern states.
Learning Point Associates, a program of the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL), helps schools and districts plan, create and evaluate school programs. Blomeyer’s work focuses on the integration of technologies -– particularly the Internet -- with teaching and learning. He co-authored a project on the effects of K-12 online learning on student academic performance and the effects of technology use on reading performance in the middle grades.
B.J. Bryant
Executive Director
Education
American Association for Employment in Education (AAEE)
Address:
3040 Riverside Drive, Suite 125
Columbus, OH 43221
Phone:
614.485.1111
E-mail:
aaee@osu.edu
Web:
http://www.aaee.org/...
AAEE disseminates information on the educational marketplace, promote ethical standards and practices in the employment process and provide opportunities for training, networking, and the exchange of information between educators. Bryant is an expert on the market for teachers, such as teacher shortages and supply and demand.
The nonprofit, nonpartisan research center studies children at every stage of development. It is a key source of information on a wide range of topics, including early childhood development, foster care and adoption, education, teen sex and pregnancy, and marriage and family. The Child Trends DataBank is a one-stop source for the latest national trends and research on more than 100 key indicators of child and youth well-being. Its recent reports include “Child Care Use by Low-Income Families: Variations Across States.” The nonprofit, nonpartisan organization provides research guidance to improve policies, programs and practices affecting children and their families. Its major research areas include: early childhood and youth development; child welfare; education; health; teen sex and pregnancy; fatherhood and parenting; and marriage and family. It studies children and youth at every stage of development and in every important subgroup (e.g., by race/ethnicity, family income, immigrant status). Its online DataBank provides the latest statistics on more than 100 indicators of well-being.
Lorraine Carter
President and CEO
V.E. Carter Child Development Group
Address:
2001 W Vliet St.
Milwaukee, WI 53205
Phone:
414.933.0953
Lynette Ciervo
Communications Strategist
Zero To Three
Address:
2000 M St. N.W., Suite 200
Washington, DC 20036
Phone:
202.638.1144
E-mail:
l.ciervo@zerotothree.org
Web:
http://www.zerotothree.org...
ZERO TO THREE is a national nonprofit charitable organization whose aim is to strengthen and support families, practitioners and communities to promote the healthy development of babies and toddlers ages 0-3.
Hechinger provides seminars and publications that better equip journalists to produce fair, accurate and insightful reporting on education. The center is part of Columbia University’s Teachers College.
Angela Covert
Education Consultant
Education
Center on Education Policy
Address:
1001 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 522
Washington, DC 202.822.806
Phone:
202.822.8065
E-mail:
cep-dc@cep-dc.org
Web:
http://www.cep-dc.org...
Covert serves on the board of directors at CEP, which is a national, independent advocate for public education and for more effective public schools. The Center seeks to define the role of public education and the need to improve the academic quality of public schools.
The New York-based think tank’s Center for Civic Innovation includes education reform in its areas of study. It lists two primary goals for public education: more school choice (including charter schools and school vouchers) and greater accountability.
Dannenberg founded the New America Foundation’s Education Policy Program, a nonpartisan think tank that investigates the efficiency of federal education funding, especially in regard to the student loan crunch. Dannenberg's focus is No Child Left Behind Act, the federal education budget, college admissions, financial aid and student loan policy.
ACCESS is a human services organization committed to developing all aspects of economic and cultural life in the Arab-American community. Launched in 1971 in Dearborn, Mich., it now has with seven locations and more than 90 programs involving human and cultural services as well as advocacy.
NHEN encourages and facilitates the vital grassroots work of state and local homeschooling groups and individuals by providing information, fostering networking and promoting public relations on a national level.
Established at Arizona State University in 2004, the task force aims to improve Hispanic children’s educational readiness and close the achievement gap. Comprised of policymakers, business and community leaders, strategists, early childhood educators and researchers, the task force published a March 2007 report with statistics, major findings and policy recommendations. The site includes contacts and additional resources.
Stephanie Germeraad
Public Affairs Officer
Education Trust
The national nonprofit works for the high academic achievement of all students, especially Latino, African American, Native American and low-income youths. From offices in Washington, D.C., and Oakland, Calif., it provides research, analysis, lobbying and technical assistance.
Greenberg is executive director of the Task Force on Poverty at the Center for American Progress. Prior to that, Greenberg was Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP). He has focused on issues relating to federal and state welfare reform and workforce issues affecting low-income families, with particular attention to employment, education and training, child care and early education policy, and other supports for low-income families. Prior to coming to CLASP, Greenberg worked at Jacksonville Area Legal Aid in Florida and the Western Center on Law and Poverty in Los Angeles. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.
The fund strives to give children who are born into poverty a chance for success in school and in life by providing direct services for at-risk children from birth to age five; training childhood professionals in Illinois; conducting research and advocating for sound public policies and sustained funding streams on early childhood development. Grumman, a former reporter and editorial board writer for the Chicago Tribune, is the recipient of three Casey Medals for Meritorious Journalism, a 2003 Pulitzer Prize and a 2001 Studs Terkel award.
The national, nonprofit anti-crime organization represents more than 3,000 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, other law enforcement leaders and violence survivors. It takes a hard-nosed look at crime prevention strategies and urges investment in research-tested programs. The D.C.-based organization advocates for high-quality early education programs, prevention of child abuse and neglect, after-school programs, and interventions to get troubled kids back on track.
Haskins is a senior fellow at Brookings and senior consultant at the Annie E. Casey Foundation. He co-directs Brookings’ Center on Children and Families, which disseminates research to Congress, advocates and the public. He served President George W. Bush in 2002 as a senior adviser on welfare policy. Before joining Brookings and AECF in 2000, Haskins spent 14 years working for the House Ways and Means human resources subcommittee. He edited several editions of its Green Book, a compendium that analyzes federal social programs and domestic policy issues including health care, poverty and unemployment. Haskins wrote “Work Over Welfare: The Inside Story of the 1996 Welfare Reform Law” (Brookings, 2006). He has co-edited several books, including “Welfare Reform and Beyond: The Future of the Safety Net” (Brookings, 2002).
Holly Higgins
Media Relations Director
Pre-K Now
A public education and advocacy organization, Pre-K Now advances high-quality, voluntary pre-kindergarten for all 3- and 4-year-olds. Supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts and other funders and a project of the Institute for Educational Leadership, it supports state-based children’s advocates, educates policy makers and raises public awareness about the need for universal pre-K.
The think tank’s Education Policy Program focuses on modernizing systems of school finance, teaching and learning, and college financial aid. The foundation’s Federal Education Budget Project provides ongoing, in-depth study and analysis. Its Early Education Initiative urges reforms concentrated on pre-K through grade 3. Its HigherEdWatch.org blog highlights analysis, reporting and commentary.
Judith Jackson MSW
National Office Consultant
National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW)
Address:
2305 Martin Luther King Ave. S.E.
Washington, DC 20020
Phone:
202.678.4570
E-mail:
nabsw.harambee@verizon.net
Web:
http://www.nabsw.org...
NABSW was founded to address the social welfare needs of black people across the country. Jackson focuses the organization’s efforts in four areas: family preservation/child Welfare, youth development, health and wellness and civil liberties. Jackson is also interested in issues regarding blacks and education, family and community.
The alliance is dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of after-school programs and advocating for quality, affordable programs for all children. It recently published the household survey report “America After 3 PM.”
Lerner is a licensed clinical social worker, child development specialist, and director of parenting information and resources at Zero To Three where she oversees development of all parenting content, including its web site and numerous publications. She is also the co-author of Zero To Three's parent books, "Learning & Growing Together" and "Bringing Up Baby." Lerner writes a regular column in American Baby Magazine on young children's behavior. She is frequently quoted in Parents Magazine, Parenting, Child Magazine and Fit Pregnancy. In addition, she has been quoted in numerous national daily newspapers such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe and London Times. Lerner has been a practicing clinician for over 17 years, providing parent education and counseling services to families with children of all ages. She also trains early childhood professionals and pediatricians on early childhood development and working effectively with parents. Lerner has participated on numerous national advisory panels and task forces related to early child development. She is currently on the Council of the National Parenting Education Network and is a liaison to the American Academy of Pediatric's Committee on Early Childhood Development.
The nation’s largest volunteer child advocacy association provides parents with resources on health, technology, safety and student achievement. Its site provides summaries of key education issues.
Matthew Melmed is the executive director of Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families in Washington, D.C. The nonprofit promotes healthy development of infants and toddlers by strengthening and supporting parents, professionals, programs and policymakers. Under Melmed’s leadership, Zero to Three established the Early Head Start National Resource Center that provides training and technical assistance to more than 700 new Early Head Start programs nationwide. The organization also initiated a national public awareness campaign for parents on the importance of the early years and forged strong partnerships with corporate partners. In December 2001, Worth Magazine named Zero to Three one of the United States’ 100 best charities. Before Melmed came to Zero to Three nine years ago, he was the executive director of the Connecticut Association for Human Services. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harpur College, State University of New York (SUNY)-Binghamton; he earned his law degree at SUNY-Buffalo.
The Afterschool Alliance is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of afterschool programs and advocating for quality, affordable programs for all children. It is supported by a group of public, private and nonprofit organizations that share the Alliance's vision of ensuring that all children have access to afterschool programs by 2010.
Suzanne Ripley
Vice President and Director
Academy for Educational Development
National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities (NICHCY)
Address:
P.O. Box 1492
Washington, DC 20013-1492
Phone:
202.884.8200
E-mail:
sripley@aed.org
Web:
http://www.nichcy.org/...
NICHCY is an information clearinghouse that provides information, referrals and publications on disabilities and disability-related issues, particularly those involving youth. Ripley advises families and educators on how best to serve children with special needs. Her focuses include special education, the rights of disabled children and early intervention.
Roy Romer
Chairman and lead spokesman
Strong American Schools/ED in '08
Address:
1150 17th St. N.W., Suite 875
Washington, DC 20036
Phone:
202.552.4560
E-mail:
info@EDin08.com
Web:
http://www.edin08.com...
Strong American Schools is a nonpartisan public awareness campaign that aims to make education a top priority in the 2008 presidential election. Before joining Strong American Schools and ED in 08, Romer spent 12 years as Governor of Colorado and six years as the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. Romer chaired the Education Commission of the States in 1994 and 1995, and was the first chairman of the National Education Goals Panel. Romer also served as co-vice chairman of Achieve, an effort by the nation's governors and major corporate leaders to reform education by the use of standards and assessments.
The nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization studies the changing workforce, family and community. It examines issues such as caregiving leave, workplace flexibility, reduced work time and increased productivity in its “2008 Guide to Bold New Ideas for Making Work Work” (
www.familiesandwork.org/3w/boldideas.pdf). FWI is based in New York. The New York-based nonprofit provides research and analysis in four major areas: the workforce and workplace; education, care and community (including early education); parenting; and youth development. Ellen Galinsky is its president.
Lois Salisbury
Director
Children, Families and Communities
David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Address:
300 Second St., Suite 200
Los Altos, CA 94022
Phone:
650.948.7658
E-mail:
cfc@packard.org
Web:
www.packfound.org...
The Los Altos, Calif.-based foundation’s Families and Communities Program supports quality early education for all children, especially those in California. It promotes two other goals: implementing after-school programs for all California students in elementary and middle schools and expanding health insurance access to all children.
Appleseed works at the local level, establishing and networking independent public interest law centers that identify and address issues community-by-community. As a legal pro bono network, Appleseed centers focus on public education, health care, child welfare, justice and immigration. Appleseed released the report, “It Takes a Parent: Transforming Education in the Wake of the No Child Left Behind Act.”
The national nonprofit organization supports the healthy development and well-being of infants, toddlers and their families. It publishes research-based information on best practices and the latest developments in the field for professionals. Hallmark publications include the bimonthly Zero to Three Journal and a text on the first developmentally based system for diagnosing mental health and developmental disorders in infants and toddlers. Since Early Head Start’s inception in 1995, Zero to Three has operated the program’s national resource center.
Alan Simpson
Communications Coordinator
National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
Address:
1509 16th St., N.W.
Washington, DC 20036
Phone:
202.232.8777
E-mail:
asimpson@naeyc.org
Web:
http:// www.naeyc.org...
NAEYC, which dates to 1926 and now has nearly 100,000 members nationally, works to build public support for expanding early childhood education programs. It promotes programs and sets standards through which child care centers, preschools, Head Start programs and kindergartens may seek voluntary accreditation. The organization publishes the Early Childhood Research Quarterly.
The NSSC advocates for school safety; trains educators and law enforcers in the areas of school crime prevention and safe school planning; provides on-site technical assistance to school districts and communities facing significant safe school crises; and assesses school site safety for individual schools or school districts interested in developing or analyzing their school safety plans.
Based in Denver, the nonpartisan, interstate compact helps states develop effective policy and practice. It represents state leaders – including governors, legislators and higher education officials—and it provides an index and numerous publications on educational issues, individual state data and e-newsletters. ECS offers a link to Education Week’s extensive daily news roundup. It serves as a gateway to other good resources, providing links to nearly 50 other major agencies and organizations, such as the Council of Chief State School Officers, the National Association of Elementary School Principals and the National PTA.
The nonpartisan research organization aims to improve understanding of the U.S. Hispanic population and to chronicle its growing impact on the nation. Researchers have expertise in demographics, immigration and more. Based in Washington, D.C., it’s supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts.
RETA Security, Inc. is a security consulting and engineering firm that provides security solutions to government and commercial clients. RETA provides assessments and services that evaluate safe school programs.
The bipartisan organization serves legislators and staffs. Its experts – on subjects from child well-being and social services to family economic success to immigration – can identify trends, and its Web site suggests story ideas.
The Annenberg Institute is an independent center at Brown University that promotes quality education for disadvantaged children and communities. Ucelli is director of District Redesign, and her focus is on the future of urban districts. She was associate director in the Equal Opportunity Division at the New York City-based Rockefeller Foundation, where she was responsible for the Foundation's efforts to improve the education and development of children going to school in poor urban communities in the U.S.
NEA is the nation's largest professional employee organization and is committed to advancing the cause of public education. NEA's 2.7 million members work at every level of education, from pre-school to university graduate programs. Reg Weaver was elected president in 2002.
The National Coalition for the Homeless, founded in 1984, is a national network of people who are currently experiencing or who have experienced homelessness, activists and advocates, community-based and faith-based service providers, and others committed to ending homelessness. The coalition can connect journalists with the names of over 150 regional, state and local advocates across the country.
Marci Young
Deputy Director
Center for the Child Care Workforce
Address:
555 New Jersey Avenue N.W.
Washington, DC 20001
Phone:
202.662.8005
E-mail:
myoung@ccw.org
Web:
http://www.ccw.org/...
The center – a project of the American Federation of Teachers Educational Foundation – works to ensure that the early care and education workforce is well-educated, better paid and heard. Its provides data, recent reports and archived newsletters.
Andrea Young
Director of Public Policy
National Black Child Development Institute
Address:
1101 15th St. N.W., Suite 900
Washington, DC 20005
Phone:
202.833.2220
E-mail:
ayoung@nbcdi.org
Web:
http://www.nbcdi.org...
Young is director of public policy for the National Black Child Development Institute. She has more than 20 years experience in law and public policy and has served as a legislative policy aide for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and chief of staff to Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., as well as a program director for the United Church of Christ and vice president for external affairs for Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington. Young is the author of “Life Lessons My Mother Taught Me” (Tarcher/Putnam, 2000) and her articles have appeared in a number of publications. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College and her juris doctor from Georgetown University Law Center. She was admitted to the state bar of Georgia in 1979.
No Child Left Behind is an education reform effort that is built on four principles: accountability for results, more choices for parents, greater local control and flexibility, and an emphasis on doing what works based on scientific research.
Grace Zamora Durán Ph.D.
Education Research Analyst
Office of Special Education Programs
U.S. Department of Education
Address:
330 C Street, SW
Mary Switzer Building, Room 4620
Washington, DC 20202
Phone:
202.401.2997
Web:
http://www.coedu.usf.edu/laser/duran.html...
Zamora Durán works on projects related to the disproportionate representation of urban and impoverished children in special education, culturally/linguistically diverse populations, English Language Learners, gender equity, assessment, and curriculum and instruction. Previously she was an assistant executive director at The Council for Exceptional Children and as a special education teacher.
No Child Left Behind is an education reform effort that is built on four principles: accountability for results, more choices for parents, greater local control and flexibility, and an emphasis on doing what works based on scientific research.
ACF funds state, territory, local and tribal organizations to improve the economic and social well-being of families, children, individuals and communities. It oversees roughly 60 programs involving child welfare and child support, Head Start, child care, family violence, fatherhood and marriage.
Samara Yudof
Press Secretary
Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
U.S. Dept. of Education
Phone:
202.401.1576
E-mail:
sara.yudof@ed.gov
Web:
http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml...
Created in 1980 from several federal agencies, the department has a budget of about $67.2 billion a year, including $57.5 billion in discretionary appropriations and $9.7 billion in mandatory appropriations. Its elementary and secondary programs serve approximately 56 million students in public and private schools.
