As Peabody continues its emphasis on attracting outstanding students, our campaign continues to make scholarship support a top priority.

Interest in Vanderbilt and Peabody has never been greater. This year, applications for enrollment increased by more than 30 percent from highly qualified students from across the country and abroad. Scholarship opportunities help attract these talented young men and women—making it possible for them to attend. Your generosity helps ensure that our need-based financial aid is competitive and allows us to give more students an opportunity to attend a top-class educational institution like Peabody.

The importance of your annual gift…

While there are many ways to support Peabody, annual gifts are the foundation of philanthropy for the college and is important to our sustainability. Peabody’s goal this fiscal year (ending June 30, 2009) for unrestricted funds is $978,285.

Campaign Progress

Your gift, your generosity helps shape tomorrow’s leaders. Thank you.

This report reflects gifts made to Peabody College between July 1, 2007 and June 30, 2008. Where known, alumnae of Peabody College and Vanderbilt University are listed by their full name. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this report. If an error has been made, we offer our sincerest apology and ask that you bring it to our attention by contacting the Peabody College Development and Alumni Relations Office at 615/322-8500.

                  

Nick Lee, Class of 2009
Jamison Foundation and Lai Family Scholarships Recipient
Majors: Secondary Education and English Literature
Hometown: St. Louis, Mo.

 

Nick Lee first visited Vanderbilt the summer before his senior year in high school. It didn’t take long for him to know that this was the perfect fit for him.

“The second I walked on to campus, I knew that this was the place for me. I knew that I needed to be here, but I also knew that paying for it would be an issue,” Nick says.

But conversations with the financial aid office proved fruitful and Nick has happily been making the most of his time at Peabody. Aside from his class work, Nick is involved with Vanderbilt Catholic, the Vandy Fanatics and Beta Upsilon Chi (Brothers under Christ) fraternity.

“People always ask me what I like best about Peabody. The thing that has really impressed me is that people here just want to do good things out in the world. That’s really inspiring to me,” he added.

“The generosity that allows me to be here is just overwhelming. It just makes me want to put everything I can into my time here. To be able to come to this school is a true gift—and I know that I need to give a gift back one day.”

Christine Orlowski, Class of 2010
Peabody Appreciation Scholarship Recipient
Majors: Child Development and HOD
Hometown: Centennial, Colo.

 

Like many Peabody students, Christine Orlowski is eager to make her mark on the world after graduation. And she believes that her education will allow her to do just that. She is interested in working as a counselor at an elementary or middle school or working at a nonprofit.

“At Peabody the professors aren’t just teaching us facts and figures,” she says. “They really want us to get involved in the community and they’re really eager to help us change the world.”

Christine has been pleased with the practical aspects of her education and her child development training can be easily applied to real world situations.

“I have been really involved in the research labs, and it’s given me a lot of great experience that I can use later on—especially in psychology,” she says.

The generosity of the anonymous donors of Christine’s scholarship has made a real impression on her.

“I may not know exactly who provided my scholarship, but I am deeply grateful to whomever it is. I hope that someday down the road I can provide the same kindness to someone else.”

Colette Lelchuk, Class of 2011
Mina Latimer Lanham Scholarship Recipient
Major: HOD
Hometown: Little Neck, N.Y.

 

Colette Lelchuk has her sights set on a career in either advertising or marketing after graduation, and she’s confident that her Peabody experience will serve her well.

“I didn’t want to go to a school and focus on marketing immediately. I wanted to be able to get a full education and have options if something didn’t work out,” she says. “Vanderbilt had everything I really wanted with fantastic academics plus a spirited athletic atmosphere.”

Activities away from the classroom and athletics are important to Colette, and she spent time this summer putting together a club basketball team.

“I talked to area YMCAs and AAU teams, and they are all willing to play a club team from Vanderbilt,” she says. She is also a member of Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity and Alpha Omicron Pi sorority. With five older sisters, Colette is especially appreciative of her scholarship.

“When you have to put six kids through college, it’s always a struggle financially. I wouldn’t have been able to come here without the help. My benefactors should feel great about what they’re doing. I would love to be able to feel that same way in the future,” she added.

Billy Ripley, Class of 2010
Monteleone Family Scholarship Recipient
Major: HOD
Hometown: Newington, NH

 

Billy Ripley first left home in the 7th grade when he went to boarding school in Virginia. With that experience, he had some strong ideas about what he wanted in a college.

“I wanted a college that really felt like home, not just a place where I was taking classes,” he says. “With Vanderbilt you have the amazing campus, Nashville and the people are just happy to be here. It’s an unbeatable combination.”

And when it comes to academics, the flexible HOD major is a perfect fit.

“When I first read about HOD, it seemed like it would prepare me, no matter what I wanted to do in my career,” he says. “It—and Peabody—really just prepare you for life.”

Even though he’s not sure what career path he’ll follow, Billy is certain about his desire to give back to Peabody.

“The best way that I can thank the Monteleone family for my scholarship is to do the same thing for somebody else one day. I want to make sure that someone who couldn’t have done otherwise will have the same experience and opportunities that I’ve had.”

Cornelius Vanderbilt Founders Level
($25,000 and above)

Anonymous
Anonymous
United Way of Metro Nashville
The Reeves Foundation
The Wallace Foundation
Nashville Alliance for Public Education
Lumina Foundation for Education, Inc.
German Research Foundation (DFG)
Leon Lowenstein Foundation, Inc.
Lindsey Compton Drake
Karen and Douglas M. Dunn
Debra and Thomas Erickson
Eska Sessoms Garrison
Cathy and Warren J. Gorrell Jr.
Carolyn and Terry Hamby
Patricia Ingram Hart and
H. Rodes Hart
Sarah and James C. Kennedy
Charles Kurz II
Dorothy Kurz
Courtney Clark Pastrick and
R. Scott Pastrick
Jere and Alton W. Phillips
Cammie and John G. Rice
Mary Jo and Brian C. Rogers
Dorothy and Phillip E. Sadler
Mary and William T. Schleyer
Deborah T. and Jack E. Thomas Jr.
Cathy and Vincent J. Young

Chancellor’s Council
($10,000–$24,999)

National Council of Jewish Women Laurie and David J. Benjamin
Amy and Edward S. Knight
Pam and John A. Koerner
Marguerite and Brian Landry
Pamela and Donald E. Larsen
Hillary H. Ling
Jean Gray Litterer
Edward Ralph MacKay
Courtney C. and
John William Madden
Rosalie Malizia
Anne Jackson and
Richard Allen Maradik
Alyne Queener Massey
Martin Bradley Masterson
Sissy and Sidney S. McAlister
Sara Sherwood McDaniel and
Allen Polk McDaniel
Suzanne Bigham McElwee
Ann Marie M. and
Martin F. McNamara
Wendy and David H. Meaden
Leila and Walter M. Mischer
Lauren and David Murphy
Ives Belle Wooley Ort and
Eddie P. Ort
Shirley Bryant Patterson and
Harold Dean Patterson
M. Carr Payne Jr.
Lynn Clayton and
Eugene B. Pennell
Marclyn Jean Dickes Porter and
Jerry Dene Porter
Robin and David Reynolds Puryear
Rebecca and Timothy Quigley
Hal Reed Ramer
Margaret Louise Riegel
Delphine Sloan Roberts and
Kenneth L. Roberts
Dr. and Mrs. William H. Rowan Jr.
Leona Schauble
Mildred Burdick Scheel
Carolyn N. and Chester A. Schmidt
Willodene Alexander Scott and
Ray Donald Scott
Virginia and
Nelson Severinghaus Jr.
Susan B. and Eugene B. Shanks
Faye and Charles E. Shelby
Diana L. Shields
Sharon Lee Shields
Jacqueline B. Shrago
Nancy and Harry Silver
Lori and Harmon W. Skurnik
Beth and Joel Spenadel
Lisa and Kevin Stallings
Ann Stark and
William W. Stark, Jr.
Alice and Kenneth W. Starr
B.F. Jerry Stephens
Virginia and Thomas Fisher Stovall
Elisabeth A. Taylor
Sarah Louise Trees
Cathy Wilson Turner and
William E. Turner
Kazuo Uechi
Shelton Sumner Unger and
Richard C. Unger Jr.
George Minister VanMeter
Susan Westbrook Vaughan and
Eugene H. Vaughan
Renee and Frank V. Ward
Linda Herring Welborn and
William R. Welborn
Mary and Michael G. Welsh
Kenneth Whitted
Catherine and John Bruce Williams Jr.
Linde B. and Blair J. Wilson
Annick Margot Winokur
Ruth A. and Mark Wolery

young alumni members
For Alumni Out Of School Less Than 10 Years
($500–$999)

Susan and Michael Brandt
Catherine Ann Crecion
Pamela Anne Ferguson
Ashley Levien
Katherine Louise O’Quinn
Edward Allen Reynolds
Mary King Tilt
Rita M. Weighill
Justin William Willis

donors
($250–$999)

United Way of Williamson County Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee
Hays Advisory Group LLC
Grand Cru Fine Wines & Spirits
Keown Enterprises LLC
PM Events
Matco Tools Corporation
S.A.I.L.
The Pingry Corporation
New Level C.D.C.
Judy Ritter Alford and
Donald E. Alford
Mary Lauren Barfield Allen and
Lawson C. Allen
Cherry Allen
Jo Anne Craig Anderson
Judy and Byron Scott Anderson
G. Thomas Andrews
Vera Wiseman Archer
Elenora and William S. Asbury
James Wade Ash
Edward R. Atkinson Jr.
Joan Cowling Banks and
Larry S. Banks
Mary and Edmund Bartlett III
Donna L. Bascom and
Paul A. Biddleman
Edward J. Boling
Louis Mead Bourchard
Glen David Bowman
Benjamin Adam Boyer
Leonard Bradley
Stephanie and James P. Brakefield
Mary Ann Brown
Jan and John G. Brunner
Eliza and Stuart Brunson
Sarah Lytton Buchanan and
Robert N. Buchanan
Georgia Hobbins Campbell and
W. Stanley Campbell
Kathleen and John S. Cantieri
Hazo William Carter Jr.
Jean F. Casson
Patricia Ann Chamings
LeRoy Ligon Cole Jr.
Alice Brunson Coleman and
Gillis Byrns Coleman
Betty Sue Cook
Carolyn and David Wayne Culley
Deborah Davies
Carol and Jon O. Demorest
Teresa Gosnell Doggett
Paul Robert Dokecki
George W. Duke
Jan Dunavant
Anita and Stephen N. Elliott
Dale C. Farran
Jimmie Robinson Felder
Judith Brooks Ferguson
Bradley and Robert Fogelman
Hannah Bonner Fowler
Patricia M. Fredericksen
Anita and John Friedmann
Marshall Funkhouser
Harry Eugene Gibson
Debby and Richard E. Giss
LaVerne Gordon Goodridge
Mack Lewis Graves
Patricia Keil Grimm
Sarah Katherine Moore Hagevik
Mary Elizabeth Hannah
Alicia Cooke Hartley and
William T. Hartley
Fred S. Hatchett
Marilyn T. Heebner
Ralph Edwin Helser
Anne and Gayle W. Herndon
Nora Smith Hinton
Mr. and Mrs. Clifford A. Hofwolt
Linda R. Holt
Alice I. and Henry W. Hooker
Lydia A. Howart and Nicholas S. Zeppos
Ellen E. Hrabovsky
Maria Cheng Hsieh
Sarah Hunt
Terri and Ralph E. Hutchins
Mary and William Johnston
Kandace Michelle Kappel
Brian Timothy Kelly
Donald King
James William Klenke
Sandra G. Koczwara
Lisa and Robert S. Kulp
Bennie Ray Lane
Ellen and Eddie Latimer
John Garland Leatherwood
Larry Simpson Longerbeam
Carol S. and Kenneth G. Mackay
Steven Holt Madden
Bruce L. Mallory
Whitney Mason Fried
Katie Bell Mauldin and
Gregory Brooks Mauldin
Rachel McCall
Lynne L. McFarland
Donna B. McNamara
Catherine Ramsey Meehan and
Andrew John Meehan
Tina and Thomas M. Melo
D. Matthew Middlethon
Haroldine Clark Miller and
Jack Willis Miller
McKay Baur Mills
Mary Evelyn Mitchell
Denise and William Monteleone Jr.
Daniel I. Moore
Martin Edward Moseley
Doris W. Mowrey
Harold Douglas Murphy
Alison W. Mutispaugh
Mary Ottilie Nicholas
Kathy and Larry D. Odom
Robert M. Ogles
Sandra Owen
Elizabeth Craig Parkinson
Donna Brandon Parrish and
Charles E. Parrish
Dr. and Mrs. Marek M. Pienkowski
P. Josephine Plumlee
Tim Kaltenbach and
John Plummer
Winona K. Powell
Lisa and Kenneth Maurice Pulce Jr.
Barbara Quinn
Claudia and Daniel L. Quinn
Sally Cox Raye
Macon Miller Richardson and
Julius Ness Richardson
Sal D. Rinella
Victoria J. Risko
Laurie Anne and William D. Roberts
Sally and John Roberts Robinson
Tavenner King Rogers and
Sean Elliott Rogers
Susan and Ralph R.Russo
N. Marshall Schools
Karen Napoli Schulz
Diane S. Vanette and Sander Schwartz
Dorothy and Melvyn Ivan Semmel
David Lee Shores
Stephanie F. Silverman
Charles Arthur Skewis
Lavinia N. Smerconish
MaryAnn Smith
Susan Ward Stare
William R. Taylor
L. Duane Tennant
Lauren Cowden Turner
Laurie and David Vanderpool
Michael Andrew Verdone
Amy Vondra-Stark
Michael Patrick Ward
Philip Todd Westbrook
Carol Westlake
James Ray Whittington
Sue and Gary F. Wingate
Jacqueline F. Wood
Robert D. Young
William Darell Zink

* Deceased

Thank you to all our donors who have given gifts of $249 or less to Peabody College. Your gifts are very important and vital to our ongoing programs. Although you are too numerous to name, please know that we appreciate your continued support and generosity to the College. Thank you!

Angel of Love

Stevie by Jerry Uselton

Untitled by Babette Simpkins

The opening of the exhibit “Creative Expressions XIV” in October will mark the 14th anniversary of the arts collaboration between the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center and The Mayor’s Advisory Committee for People with Disabilities. Its purpose is to showcase the creative talents of artists with disabilities, providing them an opportunity to have their work viewed by the public and to be included in the art community. 

Untitled by Clark Blackwell

This annual exhibit features work in a variety of media by artists with a wide range of abilities/disabilities and ages. Since its inception in 1976, the Mayor’s Advisory Committee has promoted public education and awareness, and advocated for persons with disabilities and their family members. 

Selected works are exhibited in the lobby of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center as well as the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. The participating artists will be recognized at the 27th Annual Awards Celebration of the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Thursday, Oct. 23, at Harris Hillman Special Education School in Nashville.

“I found him to be a very compassionate and caring student,” said Sharon Shields, professor in the practice of human and organizational development. “He is someone who can make a difference.”

Foster, a May graduate in human and organizational development, was the 2008 SEC player of the year, Vanderbilt’s all-time leading scorer and winner of the 2008 Lowes Senior Class Award given to NCAA Division I athletes who complete their undergraduate degrees. Fans won’t soon forget Foster’s final home game in March, when he posted 42 points—including nine straight three-pointers—to lead the Commodores to an 86-85 overtime win over Mississippi State. He was selected by the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA draft, but has signed a contract to play professionally in Italy.

When not on the court, the self-taught pianist regularly attracted admirers who watched him play at various keyboards around campus, singing gospel tunes and praise music to relax.

His teachers say he poured just as much passion into his education, where he learned that his professors “expected the same out of me in the classroom as on the court.”

Brian Griffith, director of the human and organizational development program, was Foster’s faculty adviser. “He’s a man of integrity and deep faith,” said Griffith, who said he was grateful to know Foster as more than an athlete. “He was always looking for ways to reach out to others.”

Foster rarely turned down appearances at community organizations and churches, even during the hectic basketball season. He volunteered with developmentally disabled youngsters at the Susan Gray School and mentored local high school students. 

Howard Sandler, professor of psychology, remembers Foster’s passion to improve himself. “What impressed me most about him was that after he did poorly on the first exam, he came to me and said that his performance was not up to his standards, that he was going to do better, and that he needed me to tell him how he should go about doing better,” said Sandler, Foster’s statistics professor.

Foster succeeded in the class and continued to stay in touch. Sandler often found himself in a “big bear hug” when he came across the 6-foot-6 shooting guard on campus.    

“Shan has his head on straight,” Sandler said. “He is one of the nicest, most genuine people I know. I am very proud of him and what he has done to make Vanderbilt a better place.”

“We (human capital analysts) come in after a strategic decision has been made and work with the company to implement solutions,” Heim says. “Maybe a company is having problems with turnover or failing to retain its best people. We handle communications and management when there is a major change in a company, like a merger or the hiring of a new CEO.” His work also includes troubleshooting organizational design issues, such as successfully merging two separate departments within the same company or assessing how to get the best use out of the employee talent to set them up for success.

Heim says his human and organizational development degree from Peabody has prepared him well.

“My HOD coursework was beneficial in giving me experience in the kind of work I am doing at Deloitte,” Heim said. “We specialize in finding people-centered solutions to the most complex operational and strategic problems our clients have. The HOD program, with its focus on developing interpersonal skills and social and emotional intelligence, has given me insight into the way that all people operate, and that puts me a step ahead of many of my peers.”   

Prior to his current job, Heim spent a year volunteering as an advisor and consultant with Manna Project International, helping establish a site in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. Heim spent the year after graduating from Vanderbilt as a volunteer for World Teach, a Harvard University-affiliated nonprofit that sends volunteers all over the world to teach English. He taught about 1,000 Chinese sophomores and juniors weekly at a high school in the rural city of Yuegang.

“It was what I wanted after graduation—the opportunity to travel, the opportunity to serve, and the opportunity to get outside of my comfort zone,” he says. “My average class size in China was 70 students.” 

Heim, who began his volunteer service in high school, continued it at Vanderbilt, where he was a member of the Manna Project and participated in Alternative Spring Break. Heim was also active on campus, serving as the president of Interhall, the student life government, and Reinke Hall.

About 1,550 first-year students at Vanderbilt are now housed in The Commons in “houses” with names familiar to Peabody alums: North, West, East, Gillette and Memorial. In addition there are the newly constructed Murray, Stambaugh, Sutherland, Crawford and Hank Ingram Houses, built where the Married Student and Garrison apartments once stood. Here, The Commons Center, which stands where the Hill Student Center used to be, reflects the residence of the dean of The Commons, Frank Wcislo, right in the center of things.

Informed by multiple disciplines, the summer institutes draw upon the intellectual resources of the Vanderbilt faculty. Designed with the same expectations for rigor and depth as Vanderbilt degree programs, our institutes rest on the philosophy that good practice is best derived from, and informed by, strong theoretical knowledge.

We hope you or one of your colleagues will join us.

2009 Summer Institutes

As an alumna or alumnus of Peabody College, you will receive a 20 percent discount on institute fees.

Deadline for priority consideration is March 1, 2009.

For information on our offerings, or to download an application, visit the PPI Web site.

For more information, contact us at (615) 343-6222 or PPI@vanderbilt.edu.

Seventeen years later—by way of Peabody—Vaughan is turning that dream into a far-flung mission, a way to focus her passion and compassion for Africa and the greater good. 

In January, she will hike not one but three of Africa’s highest mountain peaks—in three weeks—in order to raise money for three urgent African causes: education, environment and health. 

“I’ve always felt this aching desire to give back to the world,” says Vaughan, who earned an HOD degree in 2003 and now works as a recruiter for Merrill Lynch in New York. 

“Part of me is this New York Wall Street kind of gal, but another part of me wants to leave a good footprint in the world.” 

Vaughan will join 12 other women from across the world, a group assembled by the 3 Peaks 3 Weeks Challenge (3P3W). The organization was created by Australian Chloe Chick in 2004 to support a wide array of African needs. Together they’ll climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, Mt. Kenya and Mt. Meru. 

The women have not yet met. But they already are learning to be a functioning team across oceans and time zones: they conference-call and e-mail to plan details and build camaraderie. 

They do their own fundraising and will pay their own way to Nairobi, Kenya. Vaughan has raised more than $15,000 toward a goal of at least $25,000 by January. She plans to hold a screening of the 3P3W documentary in New York City this fall. (See her fundraising site: ww.firstgiving.com/brookevaughan.) The group’s January goal is $150,000. (See www.3peaks3weeks.org for details of aims and charities.)

Vaughan says she owes much to the HOD degree for giving shape to her values of bridging the worlds of business and nonprofit and learning to be a good corporate citizen.

“HOD gave me the skills and framework for understanding the way the world works,” says Vaughan, a New Jersey native.

Vaughan says none of the women on the team are mountaineers, herself included. All three East African peaks are accessible by trails, but she knows this will be more arduous than her hiking experiences in South America and the Adirondacks. She knows it has been done before. The initial 3P3W group, in 2007, can claim to be the first all-female team to summit all three peaks in 21 days. So far, 3P3W overall has raised more than $400,000 for African causes.

“I’m not sure I’d put myself through it unless it was for a good cause,” Vaughan says. “What we have in common is a passion for Africa, an interest in developing ourselves as individuals—and in giving something back. This is just the coolest way to raise awareness. My mother said, ‘Do you have to do the climb? Couldn’t you just write a check?’ But fundraising should be fun, something you participate in. We want to create excitement for these important causes.”

Harston, a May graduate who also majored in political science and was the recipient of a prestigious Ingram Scholarship, will live and work for the next year at the Lily of the Valley AIDS orphanage in Kwa Zulu Natal near Durbin, South Africa, an area with the second highest AIDS population in the world and one of the highest child abandonment rates.

She’ll spend her days on HIV education and testing with the 150 orphans living in the village. She also will work with widows of AIDS victims. Her involvement will extend as well to community development micro-financing—not on the loan side, but helping people with loans develop projects. In her spare time, she plans to take classes in Zulu.

“If it hadn’t been for my professors and the encouragement from my department, it would have been more daunting,” Harston said. Her experience in Africa is made even more challenging by the fact that she will volunteer from a wheelchair.

When she was eight, her family was involved in a car wreck while visiting relatives in Nashville. She was airlifted to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, where she underwent emergency surgeries to save her life. Her memories of the life-saving treatment she received at Vanderbilt led her to apply for college here.

Harston spent two summers doing service work in Africa as an undergraduate—first in Mozambique and then in South Africa—which gave her a desire to go back for a lengthier stay.

A particular service learning project that boosted her confidence in taking a leadership role as a volunteer was an opportunity at an academy that does life-skills training for the unemployed, including people living with HIV.

“When I got there, my position as a volunteer had really changed. They asked us to give training to the staff. If I hadn’t had the skills I got in HOD on how to make presentations, how to do organizational analyses, how to make lesson plans, and how to be engaging, I would have been even more intimidated. It was a challenge that turned out great,” she said. “It made me realize how much I’d learned.”

Davis in Washington, D.C., in front of the Rwandan Embassy.

The day then-sophomore Elizabeth Davis read an in-depth article about the horrific 1994 genocide in Rwanda—in 100 days in 1994, an estimated one million Rwandans were slaughtered in an ethnic bloodbath—was the day she tied her destiny to Africa.

Shortly after graduating from Peabody in 2006 (with a double major in HOD and political science), she headed there.

Today she is partnering with government officials and private-sector professionals to build a new training facility—the Rwanda Arts and Vocational Institute (RAVI)—to help young people orphaned or traumatized by the genocide.

Despite Rwanda’s history of unspeakable pain, Davis sees a bright future being reborn.

“There’s so much hope and opportunity in Rwanda,” she says.

Davis splits her time between Washington, D.C., and the African nation, focusing on the new vocational institute initiative.

She is eager to correct misperceptions about Africa, including the paternalistic western notion that Africans cannot help themselves.

“Rwandans are making investments, making changes, instead of outsiders telling them what to do. I provide a voice for what they’re already doing.”

Davis, a Florida native, came to Vanderbilt because of the HOD program, which allowed her flexibility to follow her interest in studying alternative international development strategies and nonprofit activism.

“With HOD you can really pursue what you’re passionate about. There’s emphasis on working with teams and dealing with people in all their complexity.”

At Vanderbilt, she served as president of the anti-genocide coalition STAND, as an officer in Students for Kenya, and as co-founder of Fashion For A Cause.

Davis with friends in Rwanda.

Her focus now is on Rwandans who want to overcome their heartbreaking recent history. The genocide still haunts the nation. Public memorials to victims are everywhere. Buildings remained damaged. Many who perpetrated the violence are back in society. Much reconciliation remains to be done in a country of 1.2 million orphans.

Many teens today live on the street, where they are also head of the household, taking care of younger orphaned siblings.

RAVI wants to give them a new start. Groundbreaking is planned for next year, with the first students arriving January 2010. Initial programs will include culinary arts, hospitality and construction.

Davis is busy raising the first $1 million to build the school, securing land, consulting with partners and architects. She hopes to raise another $3 million in three years with help from individuals and corporations. (See www.africagrassroots.org.)

“It’s been 14 years, but that’s a baby step in terms of healing,” Davis says.

“They’re an incredibly forgiving people, trying to move forward. You have to start with the kids. If there’s going to be change, you work with this generation—bring them together, show them they can play soccer with others from other ethnicities—show them what it means to say ‘one Rwanda.’ ”

Rwanda is also showing an HOD alumna what it means to be a world citizen.

“It means taking an interest in creating global dialogue, global community. Otherwise, you miss out on sources of wisdom that are different from what we’re used to. When I came to Rwanda, I knew this is where my heart was.”

This summer, Peabody students immersed themselves in the far-flung problems of South Africa, working with people to enhance opportunity and taking up the mantle of world citizens.

“These kids are coming back empowered,” says Brian Heuser, lecturer in the Department of Leadership, Policy and Organization and a faculty advisor to the effort. 

Three student teams returned from intensive summer experiences in the cultures and politics of three continents, guided by the new Vanderbilt Initiative for Scholarship and Global Engagement (VISAGE). 

VISAGE is a Vanderbilt study-abroad option that is infused with a Peabody-style service-learning dimension, which focuses on service.

The three student teams—35 students, total—got hands-on exposure in South Africa, Nicaragua and Australia after a semester of Vanderbilt study of the unique conditions of their selected nations. The largest team included 18 students, who were led by Heuser on a month-long adventure of teaching and learning in the impoverished township of Manenberg in South Africa, near Capetown.

“We have designed VISAGE in ways that reclaim international education from the ubiquitous ‘tourist disposition’ prevalent in traditional study-abroad,” Heuser says.

“We came up with a study-abroad model that reflects the values that a Peabody education embodies.”

A series of HOD student blogs (posted here) suggests the deep emotions and hopes stirred by the trip, along with new connections made with South African citizens.

“Spending the past four weeks in Manenberg I think I can honestly speak for everyone and say that Manenberg has become a second home to us,” writes Lindsey Smith, an HOD junior from Irvington, N.Y., and an Ingram Scholar. 

“Leaving Manenberg was extremely tough knowing that the likelihood of us seeing our learners and our new community again was pretty minimal. Now we have to ask ourselves, how do we continue this relationship, even though we are miles and miles away from one another?”

HOD majors Christina Cacciatore, left, and Katie Klein with students from Manenburg Primary.

VISAGE students encountered South Africa as guests, friends, learners and teachers. Their mornings centered around hearing lectures or taking field trips that examined the plight of South African women, or the ambitious work of Truth and Reconciliation committees that address the deep wounds that remain after decades of apartheid. 

In the afternoons, the Vanderbilt students became teachers, tutoring adults in computer skills for the first two weeks, then young teens in science, math, and reading the second half of the stay. Their work was coordinated to meet the specific needs of indigenous social service providers there. 

This was true service learning in action, Heuser says.

“VISAGE is unique in that it prioritizes human capital development for both the Vanderbilt students who participate and in the international communities it serves,” he says. “The adult learners opened up a world to my students—the cognitive difficulties that many face, the social dynamics, the struggle of keeping their families safe and food on the table.”

A highlight for Lindsey Smith was working with a woman who had never used a computer before. Within a day or so, Smith’s adult student had command of skills allowing her to write letters and send emails that greatly enhanced her HIV/AIDS advocacy work.

“It was amazing to work with her—and see my service have a long-term effect right in front of me,” Smith recalls. 

The students’ South Africa experience, which included collaborations with University of Cape Town students, did not begin or end with the four-week visit to a nation 10,000 miles away. 

VISAGE students commit to taking a spring semester course on their chosen nation—and also to preparing a research project on their experience in the fall semester after they return. (Two other VISAGE teams went abroad—a School of Engineering team that worked on water resource development in Australia, and an Arts and Science group that focused on family, community and social justice issues in Nicaragua.)

Sarah Russell works on computer skills with an adult learner in Manenberg. The Vanderbilt students taught skills in Microsoft Word and Excel, as well as how to search the Internet and use e-mail for AIDS activism.

The students’ academic efforts before and after travel are designed to overcome two perennial complaints about traditional study-abroad programs. One is that students do not get enough prep time to learn about the country they are poised to visit. The second is, there is often no mechanism, once they return, for integrating what they learned into their on-campus study life or career plans. 

“Perhaps most impressive was our students’ ability to immediately relate to the different contexts of South African society with a superior command of both academics and current affairs,” Heuser says. “I was, to say the least, extremely proud of the ways in which they consistently engaged faculty and civic leaders with great cultural fluency on foreign turf.” 

As further preparation, HOD students taught computer skills at the BetterTomorrows adult education program in Nashville.

“That worked phenomenally well—they hit the ground running in South Africa and knew what they were doing,” Heuser says.

VISAGE’s emergence is evidence of the impact of HOD as Vanderbilt’s largest undergraduate degree program – evidence of a rising expectation among students for a strong service-learning option for study abroad. 

Vanderbilt students tutored children at Manenberg Primary in science and math.

Much of the credit for creating the VISAGE model goes to Marie Martin, assistant director of Vanderbilt’s Global Education Office, which runs the university’s 70-plus study-abroad programs (overall, they’ve drawn about 650 students this year). She is a Peabody graduate (MEd’06 in international education policy and management), a believer in community engagement, global connection and interdisciplinary approaches to learning. 

“I dedicated a lot of time to this model because I believe in it,” says Martin, site director on the South Africa trip. 

“Traditional study abroad will always exist, but we all feel confident that VISAGE is the right model for certain students at Vanderbilt, and our students testify to that.”

That does not mean voters do not care about education. In polls that ask them to assess the importance of various issues in their votes for president—as opposed to those more frequent polls that ask respondents to identify only one issue of top concern—education continues to receive high rankings. Polls conducted by Time and CNN over the summer found that more than 80 percent describe education as “extremely important” or “very important” to their votes, putting it on par with health care and terrorism as issues and beating out such hot-button topics as taxes and immigration.

Still, voters continue to identify the economy, energy and national security as the nation’s top priorities, and that is reflected in the presidential campaigns. Senators John McCain and Barack Obama occasionally devote speeches to education reform, but the issue has trouble breaking through the national media fog, even when the candidates frame it as an economic imperative. On September 9, Obama delivered what he intended to be a major speech on education, but most of the coverage centered on his opening comments regarding the now infamous lipstick and pig metaphor. 

“Education is periodically an important issue, but it hasn’t been a bread and butter issue, like the economy or defense is now,” says John Geer, Distinguished Professor of political science, public policy and education. Geer’s research specialties include presidential politics, negativity in political advertising and public opinion polling.

“One reason is because a lot of education decisions are made at state and local levels. If you go to a gubernatorial or mayoral election, education is a lot more important,” Geer explains. “Also, think about the candidates’ positions. The way issues play a role is not just about what the public finds important. It’s about the differences between candidates, where they can stake out positions. McCain is looking for an issue where he can catapult ahead. He’s going to choose from the economy or Iraq.

“As for Obama, in the primaries he and Clinton talked a lot about education because they were vying for the support of education groups, which they viewed as critical to getting the nomination. But in the general, teachers unions and groups are going to go for Obama, so he doesn’t have to worry about them as much. As the frontrunner, he’s going to be cautious.”

Geer adds: “Political scientists call education a soft issue. Candidates talk about having ‘the best education in the world.’ Nobody’s against education.”

Looking for a Wedge

In keeping with Geer’s analysis, there are few education policy areas in which Obama and McCain have engaged in direct conflict. They tend to talk about their own ideas without hammering away at each other’s differences. School choice has emerged as an exception to this dynamic.

photo credit: Chuck Kennedy/MCT

McCain has made choice—specifically his support for private school voucher programs—central to his educational platform. In a speech to the Urban League in early August, McCain told the audience, speaking of a voucher program in place in Washington, D.C.: “Democrats in Congress, including my opponent, oppose the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program. In remarks to the American Federation of Teachers last month, Senator Obama dismissed public support for private school vouchers for low-income Americans as, ‘tired rhetoric about vouchers and school choice.’ All of that went over well with the teachers union, but where does it leave families and their children who are stuck in failing schools? … [I]f Senator Obama continues to defer to the teachers unions, instead of committing to real reform, then he should start looking for new slogans.”

McCain describes school choice as a tool to achieve the promise of No Child Left Behind. He proposes expanding the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program from $13 million to $20 million, and he points approvingly to a new New Orleans voucher program approved in July. He does not explain how a McCain administration would design federal policy to support voucher programs in the states.

Obama opposes voucher programs. He has engaged McCain on choice by emphasizing his support for charter schools, about which McCain has not spoken in detail. In doing this, Obama bucks elements within the Democratic Party and the teachers’ unions who remain skeptical of charter schools.

In a September 9 campaign speech near Dayton, Ohio, Obama outlined a plan for education reform that included doubling federal funding for charter schools, which now stands at approximately $200 million per year.

“Keep in mind that John McCain will say he’s arguing for choice by allowing money and students to drain out of the public schools,” Obama said. “I believe in public schools. But I also believe in fostering competition within the public schools.”

photo credit: Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/MCT

Obama added: “I also know you’ve had a tough time with for-profit charter schools here in Ohio … I’ll work with all our nation’s governors to hold all our charter schools accountable. Charter schools that are successful will get the support they need to grow; charters that aren’t will get shut down.”

NCLB’s choice provisions for children in failing schools have played a big role in increasing interest in charters. Mark Berends, director of Peabody College’s National Center on School Choice and associate professor of public policy and education in the Department of Leadership, Policy and Organizations, sees charter schools as opportunities for educational innovation.

“Under NCLB, so many public schools and districts are moving toward mandated curriculum and pacing guides. Charter schools are not subject to that. They are a lot freer,” Berends says. They also, he notes, greatly vary.

“A big part of what we’re trying to do in our research is understand what works and what doesn’t in charters,” Berends explains. “Not all are effective on achievement. My take is that charter schools can be incubators for finding out what works.”

Voucher programs, Berends says, have received a lot of press, but research has found that if they have an effect, it’s typically a small positive one—though it tends to be greater for African American students. These findings are consistent with research showing positive effects for students attending Catholic schools in urban environments.

 As far as Berends is concerned, policymakers need to take a realistic approach that uses choice as a means to an end, not an end in itself.

“If Obama gets elected, I hope there’s allowance for some type of school choice options, such as charter schools,” Berends says. “And I hope that McCain takes a balanced view. I don’t think choice is a panacea—there is no silver bullet—but I also think we should look at innovative ways to use it.”

NCLB Reform and Reauthorization

School choice is just one element being discussed as part of the wider question that looms over the educational landscape: How to reform NCLB? NCLB came up for reauthorization in 2007, but it soon became clear that action would await the next administration.

“There’s going to be modification,” Berends says about NCLB. “They’ll tweak it and revise it. They’re not going to throw it out.” Berends would like to see NCLB accountability measures expanded to include value-added assessment of student progress, as opposed to just proficiency assessment. At the same time, he says, “We have to move beyond a narrow focus on test scores alone.” Berends also supports expanding focus beyond math and reading.

Both McCain and Obama have identified their priorities for NCLB reform. McCain’s focus on choice is not limited to school choice; it is an organizing theme for several proposals regarding tutoring programs and online learning. He also emphasizes giving greater control to school and parental-level agents by distributing funding in ways that bypass federal, state and district bureaucracies.

Obama’s reforms speak more to the issues Berends identifies. Obama calls for new assessment models “that provide educators and students with timely feedback about how to improve student learning; that measure readiness for college and success in an information-age workplace; and that indicate whether individual students are making progress toward reaching high standards. This will include funds for states to implement a broader range of assessments that can evaluate higher-order skills …”

Obama also calls for an “accountability system that supports schools to improve, rather than focuses on punishments,” and he points to a need for English language learner (ELL) and special education appropriate assessments. His plan reads: “Such a system should evaluate continuous progress for students and schools all along the learning continuum and should consider measures beyond reading and math tests. It should also create incentives to keep students in school through graduation, rather than pushing them out to make scores look better.”

Assistant Professor Gilman Whiting teaches at Peabody and serves on the faculty of Vanderbilt’s Program in African American and Diaspora Studies. His research focuses on the achievement gap and on factors that affect minority and low-income boys’ educational behavior.

“When we have high stakes testing, and nothing else matters but the test, no matter how much you push, you end up pushing out a large portion of the population,” Whiting says, noting that these boys start to disengage in late elementary and middle school. Their disengagement is reflected in the widening of the achievement gap during those years. Then, as Obama’s plan acknowledges, assessment scores bump up in the later high school years when these boys drop out of the system.

Issues that Whiting’s research has identified as important to closing the achievement gap and improving the success of minority and low-income boys are touched upon in the details of Obama’s educational policy. These include Obama’s proposals to target at-risk students in middle school by identifying them early, training school leaders and faculty in the needs of diverse learners and strengthening student support systems. Obama also proposes grants for nonprofit and community-based groups to implement programs proven to help students achieve graduation.

photo credit: David Swanson/Philadelphia Inquirer/MCT

The Three R’s

Recruitment, retention and rewards—these three R’s appear in McCain’s and Obama’s rhetoric on improving K–12 teacher quality. The latter tends to attract the most attention, however, because it raises the controversial issue of performance pay.

A McCain press release from July states: “Funds should also be devoted to provide performance bonuses to teachers who raise student achievement and enhance the school-wide learning environment. Principals may also consider other issues in addition to test scores such as peer evaluations, student subgroup improvements, or being removed from the state’s ‘in need of improvement’ list.”

Obama also advocates merit pay for teachers who make strides in classroom achievement, though he more strongly emphasizes using a wider range of metrics than just test scores. In his September 9 speech in Ohio, Obama told the crowd, “When our teachers succeed in making a real difference in our children’s lives, we should reward them for it by finding new ways to increase teachers’ pay across the board, and to find ways to increase teachers’ pay that are developed with teachers, not imposed on them. We can do this. From Prince George’s County in Maryland to Denver, Colorado, we’re seeing teachers and school boards coming together to design performance pay plans.”

Matt Springer, research assistant professor of public policy and education and director of the National Center on Performance Incentives, in a September interview with NPR’s Larry Abramson said research has yet to prove whether performance pay plans improve student achievement, but he does agree that, without support from teachers, they cannot succeed.

Higher Ed, Lower Access

NCLB has focused much of the public’s attention on federal K–12 policy. However, until Brown v. Board of Education and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965—of which NCLB is the latest incarnation—federal education policy meant higher ed policy. From the Morrill land grant acts of the 1800s to the Depression-era work-study program, the mid-century GI Bill and the creation of the research infrastructure that underwrites the bulk of our nation’s academic and scientific research, the federal government has played an enormous, transformative role in higher education.

“We tend to think of our higher ed system as being autonomous, decentralized. We never think about the crucial role the government actually plays,” says Christopher Loss, an assistant professor of public policy and education at Peabody, and a specialist in the politics of American higher education. “The GI Bill in 1944 was truly one of the greatest social revolutions in history. Before World War II, higher ed was a pretty exclusive club. In 1939, the enrollment level was about a million and a half. By 1950, it was 2.5 million. By 1948, half of all college students were veterans. The GI Bill changed the socioeconomic mix of students in higher ed and increased the number of students. It opened up opportunity in a very permanent way.”

In tough economic times, especially when college graduates earn so much more than those without college educations, issues of affordability and access come to dominate the higher education landscape. The credit crisis has begun to affect the student loan markets at the same time that a weakening economy is hurting families’ ability to pay for school. Loss says this climate may make it easier for the next administration to tackle tough issues.

“If you look historically, turbulent times are the best times to advance novel and far-reaching higher ed policy,” Loss says. “To the extent you tie higher ed policy to external issues like the economy—and foreign policy, in the case of the GI bill—I think you have a better shot at getting them into law.”

McCain’s campaign has announced general higher education priorities such as simplified tax benefits and aid applications, and an expansion of the government’s direct loan program (“lender of last resort”). Obama has announced detailed proposals on financial aid, community college and college readiness. (See sidebar at left.)

Neither candidate’s campaign has emphasized the more complicated aspects of access such as those studied by Stella Flores, assistant professor of public policy and education at Peabody.

“Right now, I’ve been doing work on how in-state resident tuition policy affects access to immigrants,” Flores says. “Another area of research deals with changes in affirmative action laws across the country.”

Flores says that college access policy, at least in the last 10 years, has been dominated by state-level activity. This, in turn, manifests itself in differentiated access by state. If federal policymakers want to address the persistent low rates of access and college completion among low-income, minority and immigrant students, they will need to understand the differences in state conditions and policies, and the interplay between the two. For example, Flores says, two states with identical merit aid programs may have very different results in terms of minority access, based on levels of segregation within their school systems.

“It’s not one size fits all,” Flores says, talking about the impact of changes to affirmative action policy and the effects of aid mechanisms on diversity. “But we have found that none of the current aid plans get you to the level of diversity the affirmative action plans had.”

McCain has announced his support for a referendum in his home state of Arizona that would amend the state constitution to prohibit preferential treatment or discrimination by state government—including state universities—based on race, sex, ethnicity or national origin. Obama, on the other hand, supports affirmative action in admissions.

photo credit: Sarah J. Glover/Philadelphia Inquirer/MCT

Starting at the Beginning

During the Democratic primaries, universal pre-K was one of the beautifully wrapped presents Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton offered voters in a Christmas ad. In the general election, neither candidate offers a universal pre-K plan. 

Dale Farran, professor of education and psychology, thinks that’s just as well.

“There are a lot of advocates for universal pre-K, but I would like to see a much more nuanced discussion about it,” says Farran, who specializes in research on preschool curriculum and outcomes. “I think they need to start thinking about the child from zero on up, as opposed to just pushing elementary education down to include pre-K.”

Farran’s research has found that better preschool curricula can help children perform better in elementary school, but there are many variations in settings and in children’s needs. In some areas, children are coming to kindergarten prepared already. She says it’s unclear whether universal pre-K would help them. She also warns that moving all four-year-olds into public school pre-K programs could have consequences for infant and toddler childcare.

“The phrase ‘universal pre-K’ rolls off the tongue much more easily than it is to implement it,” Farran says. “Things are very uneven across the country. You cannot have a universal solution when the problems are not all the same.”

For more complete information on and updates to the education platforms of the two presidential candidates, please see their Web sites.

Obama: www.barackobama.com

McCain: www.johnmccain.com

In an ideal world, of course, our politicians consider themselves servants of the people. And every four years, U.S. presidential campaigns bring out the idealist in all of us. They rouse our hopes and dispel, if only for a time, jaded thoughts about the messy actual practice of government. We make a fresh investment in the candidate of our choice, cautiously optimistic that he (or she, someday) will take seriously his commitment to serve the will of the people.

Being a school of education and human development, in this issue we offer a primer on the two major candidates’ views on education, including NCLB, school choice, incentives, early childhood and higher education. Education is an important issue for almost all of us, though not necessarily an overriding one. We hope readers will find useful information to consider as we head to the polls. Needless to say, we are making neither endorsements nor predictions!

Outside the Beltway, Peabody people are changing the world in entirely different ways, and not just in our traditional education disciplines. Elizabeth Davis, Brooke Vaughan and Palmer Harston are taking knowledge and skills they hewed as human and organizational development majors to heal the wounds of the Rwandan genocide; strengthen African education, environment, and health; and work with South African children orphaned by AIDS. Current HOD students recently returned from a hands-on service trip to Manenberg, South Africa, coordinated through the Vanderbilt Initiative for Scholarship and Global Engagement.

Closer to home, Emily Thaden, a doctoral student in community research and action, created a photo project involving the children of one of Nashville’s public housing neighborhoods. Amy Cate and Melissa Brock, two education alumnae, were honored with Middle School and Elementary Teacher of the Year Awards from Metro Nashville Public Schools.

So if you are still looking for a place to invest your hope, and you are not entirely confident that politics offers the best avenue, might I suggest the students and alumni of Vanderbilt’s Peabody College? They inspire me every day.

Camilla Benbow
Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and Human Development

The present problem

Our nation expects too little of its students. Consequently, our students learn too little. This is not opinion. This is fact.

Under NCLB, states must report annual yearly progress of their students in math and science. However, states are allowed to set their own standards for student performance and to devise their own tests for measuring that performance. The result has been a race to the bottom. While state standards vary widely, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation’s Report Card, offers a yardstick for comparison. As a New York Times editorial pointed out in August, “Most states that report strong performance on their own tests do poorly on the more rigorous and respected National Assessment of Educational Progress.” 

Tennessee, for example, reported that in 2005 roughly 88 percent of students in 4th and 8th grades met state standards for proficiency in reading and math. On the NAEP, however, Tennessee was either dead last or next to last. Only a handful of states have NAEP scores that were anywhere near or above proficient.

So what?

State learning standards set the bar for what teachers teach, what textbooks include, what state tests measure and what students learn. If standards are intellectually flabby, the chance is good that learning lags. In Tennessee, as in other states, virtually half of college freshmen show up needing to take or repeat high school subjects. This wastes time and taxpayers’ money.

By expecting too little of our students we are deluding ourselves and placing students’, and our nation’s, future in jeopardy.

What to do?

The federal government does not set learning standards for students, but that does not mean that they do no not need world-class standards. The learning measured by the NAEP suggests a starting point for standards to which states should aspire. In a global economy, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) should also inform state standards.

Of course, elevated standards alone will not strengthen education. State tests need to encompass more rigorous intellectual expectations. Teacher preparation also will have to reflect greater rigor. And, eventually, we must address our higher education system which, when its turn comes, similarly needs to be subjected to higher expectations.

Springer is a research assistant professor in the Vanderbilt Peabody Department of Leadership, Policy and Organizations and director of the National Center on Performance Incentives at Vanderbilt University. The center, led by Executive Director James Guthrie, is a $10 million project funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences to determine if financial incentives for teachers, administrators and schools affect the quality of teaching and learning.

The committee held its initial meeting July 25 in Washington, D.C. Its aim is to develop an understanding of the fundamental components that go into making a successful performance pay system.

More than 1,000 teachers nationwide applied for the fellowships, which offer highly motivated, innovative public school teachers the opportunity to contribute their knowledge and experience to the national dialogue on public education. Eckert was one of 25 teachers selected for a fellowship and one of five who was selected as a Washington fellow. 

“Jon’s selection as a Washington Fellow places him at the heart of what this program does best, which is to foster dialogue between policy makers in the Department of Education and teachers in the field,” said Dean Camilla Benbow. “Jon’s experience as a teacher, complemented by his training in educational leadership at Peabody, will surely make him a valuable asset to this program.” 

In addition to teaching, Eckert serves as basketball and tennis coach at Poplar Grove. A teacher for 12 years, Eckert also founded and serves as director of Ultimate Sports and Science Camp, which focuses on inquiry-based science experiments and sports activities for middle school students. In 2008, he earned an Ed.D. from Vanderbilt in educational leadership and policy; his master’s degree is in curriculum and technology-integrated instruction.

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 with meeting the goals set out by America COMPETES and the President’s American Competitiveness Initiative. 

Dean Benbow served as a panelist on the panel titled “K–12 Education: Sparking Student Interest and Teacher Training Programs” which explored factors not previously considered for improving U.S. K–12 education and the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) pipeline. Successful models that could be better disseminated or more broadly incorporated were reviewed and specific actions necessary to achieving consensus goals on K–12 education were recommended.

Assistant Professor Stella Flores discusses issues pertaining to college access at the roundtable held at Peabody in June.

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 encounter significant financial barriers that may worsen considerably over the next decade. 

John Gaines, director of enrollment management for Vanderbilt, introduced the roundtable. Stella Flores, assistant professor of public policy and higher education, participated in the roundtable’s first session, which examined how deteriorating economic conditions may affect institutional financing, state appropriations, charitable giving, grant aid from all sources, and work and loan funds.

In addition to Flores, the first session panelists included: Eduardo J. Padron, president, Miami Dade College; Nancy Moody, president, Lincoln Memorial University; Brett Lief, president, National Council of Higher Education Loan Programs; John Nelson, managing director for health care, higher education and infrastructure, Moody’s Public Finance Group; Charles S. Lenth, vice president for policy analysis and academic affairs, State Higher Education Executive Officers; and Harris Miller, president, Career College Association.

The second session focused on additional steps that federal, state, institutional and private parties may need to take to ensure student access and success moving forward. Panelists for this session were Hazel O’Leary, president, Fisk University; David Gregory, vice chancellor for administration and facilities management, Tennessee Board of Regents; Richard G. Rhoda, executive director, Tennessee Higher Education Commission; Philip R. Day, Jr., president and CEO, National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators; Patrick M. Callan, president, National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education; Sarita E. Brown, president, Excelencia in Education; and Deanne Loonin, director, Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project, National Consumer Law Center.

“We are delighted to collaborate with Discovery Education on the development and distribution of this new service. VAL-ED builds a picture of principal effectiveness by providing a detailed assessment of a principal’s perceived performance,” Dean Camilla Benbow said. “This assessment empowers administrators to effectively evaluate staff, diagnose strengths and weaknesses, and recommend pertinent professional development.”

VAL-ED was developed by Peabody faculty Joseph Murphy, Ellen Goldring and Stephen Elliott, and Andrew Porter, dean of the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, to provide detailed, evidence-based assessment of principals’ performance. It has been tested at more than 300 schools nationwide and is aligned with the national leadership standards set by the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium. 

VAL-ED assesses principals in six core components related to student learning, including high standards, rigorous curriculum and performance accountability. Six additional evaluation areas of key processes measure leadership skills such as planning, advocating and communicating.

“VAL-ED is a clear improvement over previous evaluation instruments,” Discovery Education Assessment Director William Dycus explained. “Many school districts have created various instruments to measure the performance of principals, but few have been as meticulously researched and rigorously tested. By providing accurate and reliable data, VAL-ED aids administrators in making decisions that impact student achievement.”

Field-tested in 100 elementary schools, 100 middle schools and 100 high schools in 53 districts within 27 states, VAL-ED shows how a principal’s performance compares with his or her peers nationwide, and determines if a principal is performing at a “basic,” “proficient,” or “distinguished” level. The VAL-ED assessment can be completed in 20-25 minutes, in either online or pencil and paper formats. It can be used annually to facilitate a data-based performance evaluation, or it can be used more frequently to measure performance growth or provide principals ongoing feedback throughout the school year.

For more information on VAL-ED, please visit www.thinklinkassessment.com/corporate/valed.html. 

Peabody first-year student Natalie Wills shows off her new wheels as she prepares to say goodbye to mom, dad and sister during move-in weekend in August.

Sandra Barnes, professor of human and organizational development and sociology of religion (Ph.D., 1999, Georgia State University; M.S., 1995, Interdenominational Theological Center; M.S., 1989, Georgia Institute of Technology; B.A., 1986, Fisk University)

Torin Monahan, associate professor of human and organizational development and medicine (Ph.D, 2003, M.S., 2002, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; M.A., 1996, B.A., 1993, California State University, Northridge)  

Acie Murry, research associate professor of human and organizational development (Ph.D., 1988, University of Missouri, Columbia; M.S., 1983, Tuskegee University; B.S., 1969, Tennessee State University)  

Velma McBride Murry, Betts Professor of Education and Human Development (Ph.D., 1987, M.S., 1985, University of Missouri, Columbia; B.S., 1974, University of Tennessee, Knoxville)  

Susan Saegert, professor of human and organizational development (Ph.D., 1974, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; B.A., 1968, University of Texas, Austin)

Marybeth Shinn, professor of human and organizational development (Ph.D., 1978, M.A., 1976, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; B.A., 1973, Radcliffe College)

Department of Leadership, Policy and Organization

Xiu Chen Cravens, research assistant professor (Ph.D., 2008, Vanderbilt; M.A., 1992, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; B.A., 1989, Peking University)

Corbette Doyle, lecturer in organizational studies (M.B.A., 1987, Vanderbilt; B.A., 1978, State University of New York, College at Oswego)

Catherine Gavin Loss, lecturer in public policy and education (Ph.D., 2005, University of Virginia, Charlottesville; M.A., 1993, University of Chicago; B.A., 1992, Purdue University)

Christina R. Neiman, lecturer in organizational studies (M.A., 1975, University of New Mexico)

Jane Robbins, senior lecturer in organizational leadership (Ph.D., 2004, University of Pennsylvania; M.A., 1992, University of Massachusetts, Boston; B.A., 1970, University of Rhode Island)

Department of Teaching and Learning

Lisa Pray, associate professor of the practice of English language learners (Ph.D., 2003, M.Ed., 1998, B.S., 1986, Arizona State University)

Emily Shahan, assistant professor of the practice of mathematics education (M.A., 2001, Stanford University; B.A., 1995, Williams College)

Department of Special Education

Alex da Fonte, assistant professor of special education (Ph.D., 2008, M.S., 2001, Purdue University)

Camilla P. Benbow

John Braxton, professor of education in the Department of Leadership, Policy and Organizations, is the new editor of The Journal of College Student Development.

Lynn and Doug Fuchs, Nicholas Hobbs Professors of Special Education and Human Development, were awarded The Council for Exceptional Children’s Division for Learning Disabilities’ Jeannette E. Fleischner Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Learning Disabilities during the Council’s 2008 annual meeting in April. 

Judy Garber, professor of psychology and investigator, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development, is serving as secretary/treasurer of the International Society for Research in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology (ISRCAP), a term she will hold through 2011.

Karen Harris and Steve Graham, Currey Ingram Professors of Special Education, are the chief co-editors for a new edition of the Handbook of Educational Psychology to be published by the APA. 

Deborah Rowe, associate professor of early childhood education, will serve as the U.S. editor of The Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, an international journal.

Remember when it cost just $38 for seven hours of coursework? No one here remembers that either, but we have newfound evidence that it was so, as this 1940 receipt indicates. Found in a book donation to the Goodlettsville Public Library, the receipt was sent to the Peabody Library this summer, as was this supplement to a 1928 Reflector, sent by Charlotte Vedeler, whose mother, Eloise Blakslee, studied at Peabody about 80 years ago. (click image to view larger version)

Calculators are useful tools in elementary mathematics classes, if students already have some basic skills, new research has found. The findings shed light on the debate about whether and when calculators should be used in the classroom. 

“These findings suggest that it is important children first learn how to calculate answers on their own, but after that initial phase, using calculators is a fine thing to do, even for basic multiplication facts,” said Bethany Rittle-Johnson, assistant professor of psychology at Peabody and co-author of the study. 

The research is currently in press at the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology and is available on the journal’s Web site. 

Rittle-Johnson and co-author Alexander Kmicikewycz, who completed the work as his undergraduate honors thesis at Peabody, found that the level of a student’s knowledge of mathematics facts was the determining factor in whether a calculator hindered his or her learning. 

“The study indicates technology such as calculators can help kids who already have a strong foundation in basic skills,” said Kmicikewycz, now a teacher in New York City public schools. 

“For students who did not know many multiplication facts, generating the answers on their own, without a calculator, was important and helped their performance on subsequent tests,” Rittle-Johnson added. “But for students who already knew some multiplication facts, it didn’t matter—using a calculator to practice neither helped nor harmed them.” 

The researchers compared third graders’ performance on multiplication problems after they had spent a class period working on other multiplication problems. Some of the students spent that class period generating answers on their own, while others simply read the answers from a calculator. All students used a calculator to check their answers. 

The researchers found that the calculator’s effect on subsequent performance depended on how much the students knew to begin with. For those students who already had some multiplication skills, using the calculator before taking the test had no impact. But for those who were not good at multiplying, use of the calculator had a negative impact on their performance. 

The researchers also found that the students using calculators were able to practice more problems and had fewer errors. 

And, for many of the students, using calculators was simply fun. 

“Kids enjoyed them. It’s one way to make memorizing your multiplication facts a more interesting thing to do,” Rittle-Johnson said. 

“So much of how you teach depends on how you market the material—presentation is very important to kids,” Kmicikewycz added. “Many of these students had never used a calculator before, so it added a fun aspect to math class for them.” 

“It’s a good tool that some teachers shy away from, because they are worried it’s going to have negative consequences,” Rittle-Johnson said. “I think that the evidence suggests there are good uses of calculators, even in elementary school.”

After arriving home on July 27, Westlake added this entry to their travel blog:

“We did it. We made it home safely. Our trip was a lot of fun and we learned a lot about this big country in which we live. We learned that every mountain range is different in shape and surface, that different areas of the country have unique smells, that local rules and regulations vastly affect the appearance of an area, and that Tennessee is truly one of the most beautiful states….We each feel incredibly lucky to have been able to take this trip. It has been a wonderful sharing experience. And now, after two years of planning and undertaking the ‘Four Corners’ trip, we have to focus on other life goals.”

 To see other entries and many photos of the trip, go to inifinityusa.blogspot.com.

“This tool should help all test developers systematically apply principles of universal design to advance the accessibility of tests for all students, not just students identified with disabilities. TAMI is helping test developers achieve their dual goals of better tests and better testing practices,” said Elliott, Dunn Family Professor of Education, director of the Learning Sciences Institute and director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Educational Psychology. 

“We define accessibility as ‘the extent to which an environment, product or service eliminates barriers and permits equal access to all components and services for all individuals’,” said Beddow, a research assistant in special education and a member of the Learning Sciences Institute. “In the case of standardized testing, this means developing assessment tools that do not place students at a disadvantage because of difficulties with reading, comprehension or other problems when it comes to being able to understand the question posed and its corresponding answer set.”

The researchers began by developing an item modification guide that was used to modify a set of questions given to students with and without identified disabilities, in both their original and modified forms. They partnered with testing boards in Indiana, Idaho, Arizona and Hawaii to carry out their initial research. 

“The findings largely confirmed our hypothesis,” Beddow said. “We were able to close the achievement gap with the regularly performing students by modifying the questions that might have been problematic for students with special needs.”

TAMI is the result of a thorough revision of this initial guide. It consists of two parts: an item analysis, which uses multiple categories with detailed rubrics to judge the actual questions, and a computer-based test analysis that can be used to assess the accessibility of a specific computer-based test delivery system. The item analysis takes into account factors like the clarity of the question’s wording, whether or not necessary visuals are included and the choice of wrong answers, which are the parts of standardized tests that can be problematic for students with special needs. Revising questions with an aim towards streamlining and simplifying unnecessarily complex questions is the focus of the item analysis.

“Modifying these types of test is not just a matter of ensuring computer literacy,” Beddow said. “It is also about making sure that the screen is legible, that answer selection is simple and intuitive, and that audio is available to those who need it. The goal of this part of TAMI is to make sure that the computers are not further complicating the test or altering the validity of the students’ responses.”

The instrument is currently available to be freely used by the public at http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/TAMI.xml. It is being distributed to state assessment departments and testing companies in all 50 states. 

The project was funded by an Enhanced Assessment Grant from the U.S. Department of Education in the Consortium for Alternate Assessment Validity and Experimental Studies.

Under the direction of Mark Lipsey, research professor, and Dale Farran, professor of education and psychology, the PRI will bring with it a number of active projects, including several using meta-analysis of research on the effectiveness of substance abuse treatment for adolescents; the development of evidence-based practice guidelines for juvenile justice programs in Arizona, funded by the Arizona Supreme Court; the development of evidence-based practice guidelines for juvenile justice programs in Tennessee, funded by the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services and Juvenile Justice; an evaluation of the effects of a middle school conflict resolution program in Ohio, funded by the Department of Education; a meta-analysis of predictors of school success and failure from longitudinal studies, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; the analysis of achievement gains for pre-K children in classrooms using the OWL curriculum (Opening the World of Learning), funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; development of intervention fidelity measures for a pre-K curriculum intervention, funded by the Department of Education; and the effects of a pre-K math curriculum when scaled-up for multi-site implementation, funded by the Department of Education and State University of New York, Buffalo.

Initially a pre-med student at Vanderbilt who soon discovered that “I didn’t like chemistry,” Cate signed up for an education course on the recommendation of her academic advisor. The required practicum at Hillsboro High School was all it took to realize that she wanted to be a teacher. Though she intended to work at the secondary level after graduation, the job fell through, and Cate applied at the last minute for a position at J.T. Moore. Five years later, her enthusiasm for teaching middle school Spanish remains apparent.

“I love having kids [at this level of study] because it’s their first experience with the subject,” she says. “There are no preconceptions—it’s a clean slate—so you can shape their whole opinion about a language.” Cate’s zeal for her work also helps create a positive environment that’s good for both teacher and students. “Kids have to enjoy what they’re doing,” she says. “Happy kids usually tend to learn better.”

The importance of mentoring

Cate cites the continued presence of mentors—a hallmark of Peabody’s teacher training program—as essential to her success as a teacher. “Peabody connected me with people to whom I still look for help today,” she says. In contrast, “Some people I’ve talked to from other [teacher training] programs felt like they had to sink or swim.” She believes the lack of mentoring can deter education students from entering the field.

Cate’s own student teaching, on the other hand, was “a time for real growth,” the culmination of years of practica experiences in the classroom. “I’d been in an ELL class, a pre-K special ed class, an inner city school, a magnet school—I’d had experience in basically every kind of school Nashville offers. Peabody did the best anybody can do, because they put you out there—they don’t just talk about it.”

Opportunities abound

The solid foundation she gained from her training at Peabody allows Cate to continue pursuing goals for both her own practice and for her students. “My view of teaching is that if I can teach a student how to approach a problem, that’s better than teaching just the nuts and bolts,” she says. “Peabody gave me the facts, but also gave me the know-how to approach a problem in the right way.”

Cate is also eager to recreate her positive experiences as a student teacher for current teacher candidates, frequently welcoming groups of students at different levels of education into her classroom. “I love the quote, ‘To whom much is given, much is expected,’” she says. “I received gracious help freely given, and so I feel as though it is my responsibility—and my opportunity—to give the same kind of help to other potential teachers.”