With the Obama administration highlighting school choice as a likely reform strategy, interest in how parents choose a school is more intense than ever. “School Choice and School Improvement: Research into State, District and Community Contexts,” was hosted by the National Center on School Choice in late October. The conference looked at school choice issues [...]

Employee Engagement: A Roadmap for Creating Profits, Optimizing Performance and Increasing Loyalty (Jossey-Bass, 2009) by Brad Federman, MEd’93. There is mounting evidence that employee engagement keenly correlates to individual, group and corporate performance in areas such as retention, productivity, customer service and loyalty. This book provides a comprehensive framework, language and process offering a research-based [...]

Peabody housing experts think struggling Nashville neighborhoods will get some relief from nearly $31 million in Recovery Act funding awarded to the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency (MDHA) by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. “This award is a wonderful opportunity for Nashville and a credit to the reputation of MDHA,” said Susan [...]

Educators wishing to teach in Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) will have the opportunity to earn a Peabody master’s degree designed expressly for them beginning this summer. The new program is focused on improving teaching in urban middle schools and is the result of a partnership between Peabody and MNPS. Sharon Yates, lecturer in education, [...]

Peabody students Alice Bator and Sarah Quirk spent just two months in Uganda during the summer of 2009, but walked away with a lifetime of knowledge in topics ranging from technology, sustainability, diplomacy, community organizing, economic development, women’s rights and much more. Bator and Quirk traveled to Uganda to further the work of Kasiisi Project [...]

The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center celebrated the life of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, lifelong champion of persons with intellectual disabilities and founder of Special Olympics, who died August 11 at age 88. The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center is one of 14 Eunice Kennedy Shriver Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Centers (IDDRCs) supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National [...]

New research looking at comparison and the strategy of learning concepts before learning procedures as a way to help middle schoolers learn new math concepts has been co-authored by Bethany Rittle-Johnson, assistant professor of psychology and human development at Peabody. “We found that comparing different ways to solve a problem helped middle-school students become more [...]

New research reveals that a cognitive behavioral program for teens at risk of depression may help prevent future depressive episodes. However, the program did not show benefits for teens with a currently depressed parent. The research by Judy Garber, professor of psychology at Peabody and professor of psychiatry, was published in the June 3 issue [...]

Peabody College’s faculty’s articles are prominently listed in the American Educational Research Association’s ranking of the Top 50 Most Frequently Cited Articles as of January.  The Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis Journal, Review of Educational Research Journal and the Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics rankings all include Peabody College faculty in the top 50. [...]

 Joseph Murphy, professor of education at Peabody, is serving as chairman of a National Board for Professional Teaching Standards’ steering committee overseeing a national effort to develop an advanced certification for educational leaders. This initiative will include an advanced certification for both principals and teacher leaders.  The National Board, the organization that provides advanced standards [...]

More than 80 experts convened to discuss and debate the controversial field of teacher retirement benefit systems at a conference in February at Peabody. The conference, co-hosted by the National Center on Performance Incentives at Vanderbilt, drew scholars from universities and research institutions across the country to discuss the design and implications of teacher retirement [...]

Vanderbilt will serve as a research partner to the State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE), a nonpartisan initiative established by former U.S. Sen. Bill Frist that seeks education reform in Tennessee. Frist was joined at the announcement by Gov. Phil Bredesen, Tennessee Commissioner of Education Tim Webb, Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and other education, community, [...]

The Susan Gray School for Children dedicated the new Finan Family Playground as part of Peabody homecoming weekend activities last October. Above, Kelly Finan, BS’09, with assistance from David Williams, vice chancellor for university affairs and athletics, cuts the ribbon. The playground was made possible by Tom and Mary K. Finan, parents of Kelly, Vanderbilt [...]

Paying teachers for their performance was supported by both presidential candidates in the 2008 election and is being tried in school districts across the nation. But the question remains—does it work? A second-year evaluation of Texas’ statewide performance pay program, the largest in the nation, reveals insights into whether these programs are beneficial and attractive [...]

Peabody College has announced a competitive new Pre-Doctoral Fellows Program to assist Peabody doctoral candidates who are facing a growing void in the university job market due to the current economic climate.  “We are offering a competitive program for Ph.D. students who have defended their dissertations and anticipate or may not be having success in [...]

Vanderbilt Peabody faculty member Matthew Springer has been appointed by Assistant Secretary of the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education Kerri Briggs to a new U.S. Department of Education advisory committee on teacher and principal performance pay programs. Springer is a research assistant professor in the Vanderbilt Peabody Department of Leadership, Policy and Organizations and [...]

Peabody doctor of education graduate Jonathan Eckert has been selected by U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings for a Teacher Ambassador Fellowship with the U.S. Department of Education. Eckert is a seventh-grade science teacher at Poplar Grove Middle School in Franklin, Tenn. His selection was announced by Spellings on July 10.  More than 1,000 teachers [...]

Dean Camilla Benbow served as a panelist at the National Science and Technology Summit held at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn., in August. Called for by the 2007 America COMPETES Act, the summit examined the direction of the U.S. science and technology enterprise and reviewed the progress made toward and challenges associated [...]

The impact of the nation’s current economic downturn on low- and moderate-income students was the topic of an all-day national roundtable discussion on June 13 at Peabody. The panel was hosted by the U.S. Department of Education’s Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, which recently released data that show millions of college-qualified high school graduates [...]

Discovery Education and Vanderbilt University are partnering to launch a new research-based evaluation tool that measures the effectiveness of school principals. The Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education (VAL-ED), which is being exclusively distributed by Discovery Education, was created at Vanderbilt University through a grant from the Wallace Foundation.  “We are delighted to collaborate with [...]